IS claims killing of French priest
Extremists attack during live service
SAINT-ETIENNE-DUROUVRAY, France — The Islamic State group crossed a new threshold Tuesday in its war against the West, as two of its followers targeted a church in Normandy, slitting the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass and using hostages as human shields before being shot by police.
It was the extremist group’s first attack against a church in the West, and fulfills longstanding threats against “crusaders” in what the militants paint as a centuries-old battle for power. One of the attackers had tried twice to leave for Syria; the second was not identified.
“To attack a church, to kill a priest is to profane the
republic,” French President Francois Hollande told the nation after speaking with Pope Francis, who condemned the killing in the strongest terms.
The Rev. Jacques Hamel was celebrating Mass for three nuns and two parishioners on a quiet summer morning in Saint-Etiennedu-Rouvray when the attackers burst in and forced the 85-year-old priest to his knees before slicing his throat, according to authorities and a nun who escaped and raised the alarm so a special contingent of a heavily armed, anti-terrorist rapid-reaction force could appear on the scene within moments.
The nun described seeing the attackers film themselves and give a sermon in Arabic around the altar before she fled. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the other hostages were used as human shields to block police from entering. One 86-year-old parishioner was wounded.
The two attackers were killed by police as they rushed from the building, Mr. Molins said. One had three knives and a fake explosives belt; the other carried a kitchen timer wrapped in aluminum foil and had fake explosives in his backpack.
One of the assailants was identified as Adel Kermiche, a 19-year-old who grew up in the town and tried to travel to Syria twice last year using family members’ identity documents, but was arrested outside France after his family alerted authorities to his radicalism, and he was handed preliminary terrorism charges.
Kermiche was put under house arrest with an electronic surveillance bracelet after a judge overruled prosecutors and agreed to free him, Mr. Molins said. However, the bracelet was deactivated for a few hours every morning as part of the surveillance agreement, Mr. Molins said — hours that corresponded to the time of Tuesday’s attack.
A statement published by the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said Tuesday’s attack was carried out by “two soldiers of the Islamic State.”
Targeting a church in the rural Normandy heartland resonated with France’s leadership and Christians across Europe. While France is officially secular and church attendance is low, the country has deep Catholic roots. IS extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one earlier church attack that was foiled when the assailant shot himself in the leg.
One person, a minor, was arrested in the investigation. Mr. Molins said he is believed to be the 16year-old younger brother of someone wanted by authorities for trying to go to Syria or Iraq in 2015.
The attack brought swift and heartfelt expressions of solidarity from interfaith groups and from Jewish and Muslim leaders.
Fatima, 58, an Algerianborn woman who said she lived in the village for 40 years, joined the crowds in the main square to pay homage “for the memory of the priest.”
“We are with him,” said Fatima, who only gave her first name. “All Muslims are with him.”
The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times contributed.