26 July A hostage taking incident by two individuals, who were later killed by police, at the Église St.-Étienne,[1] a 17th-century Catholic church in a working-class town, in the Normandy area of northern France, in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, during the Holy Mass, leaves the priest, the Reverend Father Jacques Hamel, 86, dead (his throat was slit), and another hostage very critically injured. During the attack, the two attackers recorded themselves as they "did a sort of sermon around the altar in Arabic”, according to Sister Danielle, who described the attack to BFM-TV.[2] One of the attackers was named Adel Kermiche, a 19 year old, who was on electronic monitoring for past offenses.[2] A 17-year-old Algerian-born man has been arrested in the investigation.[2] The attack was done in the name of ISIS, and an ISIS news channel claimed they were its "soldiers", similar to what happened after other recent European attacks, but there is no independent confirmation, or firm evidence, as of yet that they were directly linked to ISIS- the investigation is in its early stages. Two nuns and two churchgoers were known to have been hostages.[3]
26 July A hostage taking incident by two individuals, who were later killed by police, at the Église St.-Étienne,[4] a 17th-century Catholic church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, during the Holy Mass, leaves the priest dead and another hostage very critically injured.[5] The attack was done in the name of ISIS, and an ISIS news channel claimed they were its "soldiers", similar to what happened after other recent European attacks, but there is no independent confirmation, or firm evidence, as of yet that they were directly linked to ISIS – the investigation is in its early stages.[6]
French President Francois Hollande - "To attack a church, to kill a priest, is to profane the republic."[7]
Haras Rafiq, managing director of the Quilliam Foundation, said "the attack as a turning point. "What these two people today have done is ... shifted the tactical attack to the attack on Rome ... an attack on Christianity."[7]
Rouen diocese official Philippe Maheut - "...he certainly didn't think that consecrating his life would mean for him to die while celebrating Mass, which is a message of love."[7]
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that "Pope Francis expressed his "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected.""[7]
Michael Horowitz, an analyst with the Levantine Group security firm said, "The pace of these attacks is aimed at painting ISIS as an omniscient group capable of humiliating the West, and defying expectations."[7]
