Two attackers took five hostages in a Catholic church in the northern French town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray on Tuesday, killing an 84-year-old priest before being shot and killed by responding law enforcement officers. The perpetrators declared that they were acting in the name of ISIS, and the group has claimed responsibility for the attack. From the Guardian:
Police have reportedly identified one of the attackers as a local man who had tried to leave for Syria years ago and was turned back at the Turkish border. He was ordered by a judge to wear an electronic bracelet in March 2016.
One of the remaining hostages was seriously injured; the other three were unharmed.
The attack comes two days after an ISIS-linked suicide bomber injured a number of people in Ansbach, Germany; eight days after four individuals were injured in an ISIS-linked ax attack on a train near Würzburg, Germany; and 12 days after the ISIS-linked Bastille Day attack in Nice, France, that killed 84.
The Guardian reports that residents of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray say the priest killed Tuesday “should have retired at 75 but wanted to continue serving the church and community.”
