Attacker asked nun about Qur’an

RENNES, France: One of the terrorists who murdered an elderly French priest smiled as he carried out the attack, and nuns who witnessed the grisly murder said the killers spoke about the Qur'an.

The two nuns who were in the church when Father Jacques Hamel was killed, his throat slit on the altar, said the men appeared aggressive and nervous during the attack at the Eglize Saint-Etienne in Normandy on July 26. Then, one of the attackers seemed pleased.

“I got a smile from the second (man). Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy,” nun Sister Huguette Peron told Catholic newspaper La Vie on Friday.

Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both 19, had pledged allegiance to the Daesh group.

One nun fled the scene and alerted the police, leaving Sister Huguette and Sister Helene Decaux, both in their 80s, in the church with the radicals.

At one point, Sister Helene got tired and asked to sit down. “I asked for my cane, he gave it to me,” she said.

Then the men started talking about religion, asking the nun if she was familiar with the Qur'an. “Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, I’ve read several suras. And those that hit me in particular are the suras about peace,” Sister Helene responded.

One of the attackers replied: “Peace, it’s what we want... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop.”

“Are you afraid to die?” one of the attackers asked. The nun said no, then he said: “Why? I believe in God, and I know I will be happy” Sister Helene said, as she quietly prayed to herself.”