In the latest European assault to take place just over the past hour, two knifemen raided the Church of the Gambetta in the northern French town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking between 4 and 6 hostages and allegedly killing a priest before being killed by police. According to subsequent unconfirmed reports the priest had been beheaded.
Another worshipper is said to have been seriously wounded.
Both attackers have been killed by police, an interior ministry spokesman confirmed to Reuters. The Paris anti-terrorist prosecutor is launching an investigation into the church attack and hostage-taking situation, the spokesman added
Prise d’otages dans une église près de #Rouen : le prêtre tué, une fidèle gravement blessée https://t.co/FcjM0tfC8k http://pic.twitter.com/5D8mv3PlL9
— FRANCE 24 (@FRANCE24) July 26, 2016
Nombreux tirs entendus sur places prise otage saint etienne du Rouvray http://pic.twitter.com/FsqAKAaj2C
— frederic veille (@fredveille) July 26, 2016
MORE: @i24NEWS_EN is now reporting that the priest was beheaded inside the Church #France
— Conflict News (@Conflicts) July 26, 2016
.@skymarkwhite has the latest after reports that knifemen who’d taken hostages at a church in Normandy are shot dead https://t.co/VFJNyTgNXN
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 26, 2016
— ArabFree (@BrunFree) July 26, 2016
One resident was walking to church as the horror broke out. He told French newspaper MetroNews: “I was going to go out and do my shopping when the police started shouting me to go straight home and barricade myself.
“There is a lot of agitation, the police are bulletproof vest and armed.”
Le Point further reports that the hostage takes shouted “Daesh” (ISIS) while entering the chruch, suggesting they may have been Islamic radicals.
The hostage takers shouted “Daesh” (ISIS) while entering the church according to Le Point #France https://t.co/QxA5uZacGO
— Michael Horowitz (@michaelh992) July 26, 2016
Firefighters, along with SWAT and anti-terror units, came to the scene, and said that there were several people wounded in the attack, RTL France media outlet said.
Prise d’otages en cours place de l’église à Saint-Étienne-du-rouvray, près de #Rouen http://pic.twitter.com/x0EGDYW3em
— Alice (@AlicePatalacci) July 26, 2016
French President Francois Hollande is on his way to the site of the attack, according to an official statement from Elysee Palace. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is also headed to the scene of the hostage-taking, the ministry said.
via http://ift.tt/29Wz41Q Tyler Durden