Two Islamic State “soldiers” attacked French church

One attacker named as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, convicted terrorist

Priest, two nuns and other worshippers were taken hostage

Priest was made to kneel before his throat was cut

Attack occurred in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Rouen at morning Mass

WARNING: Graphic details.

MORE details have emerged of how the Islamic State “soldiers” managed to film a Catholic priest’s throat being cut, before they were shot dead in a hostage stand-off in France.

An 86-year-old woman, one of five held hostage Tuesday at the Normandy church, said the attackers had handed her husband Guy a cellphone and demanded that he take photos or video of the priest after he was killed.

Her husband was in turn slashed in four places by the attackers and is now hospitalised with serious injuries.

The elderly woman identified only as Jeanine told RMC radio that her husband played dead to stay alive.

The account comes as one of the attackers was identified.

Adel Kermiche, 19, recorded the sickening murder while repeatedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” at the Catholic church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, at 9am local time on Tuesday.

media_camera Adel Kermiche, pictured here in 2011, has been identified as one of the church attackers. Picture: Facebook/Adel Kermiche

French prosecutor Francois Molins said Kermiche was known to security services, having twice been arrested on his way to Syria, and was under house arrest and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet at the time of the attack.

Molins said the bracelet was deactivated for a few hours every morning, corresponding with the time of the attack.

His own parents had previously flagged his radical behaviour to authorities.

A family friend says Kermiche had a sister who is a doctor in the nearby city of Rouen, and a brother. Their mother is a professor. The family alerted authorities to his radicalism to try to stop him from going to Syria

media_camera Father Jacques Hamel was beheaded by IS assailants. Picture: AFP/Paroisse Saint-Etienne-Du-Rouvray

“We knew he wanted to go to Syria,” a 60-year-old neighbour of the assailant’s family, who added that he “never saw him go to the mosque” that he attended.

Kermiche was detained the first time in Germany, while he was on his way to Syria, using his brother’s ID Molins said. He was not yet 18 at the time.

The second time, which was after he had turned 18, he went through Switzerland, and was detained in Turkey using a cousin’s ID. He was sent back to Switzerland and then France.

He was charged and jailed for associating with criminals with terror links.

Kermiche had also already threatened to attack a church, according to witness testimony collected in his neighbourhood.

media_camera People stand in front of the place de la Republique's monument in Paris following this latest attack. Picture: AFP/ GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT

Molins said Kermiche and an unknown accomplice, armed with knives, took the 86-year-old priest Jacques Hamel, three nuns and two worshippers hostage.

One of the nuns managed to escape and call police, who, upon arrival, tried to negotiate with the hostage-takers through a small door.

Hamel died after he had his throat slashed and a nun is in a critical condition after also being injured.

Molins said police were unable to launch an assault on the church as three hostages were lined up in front of the door being used as human shields.

media_camera Where the attack unfolded. Picture: Supplied.

Two nuns and one worshipper then exited the church followed by the two attackers, one carrying a handgun, who charged police shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

Both attackers had on them a “fake explosive device covered in aluminium foil”.

The attackers were shot dead by police.

Police later arrested a third suspect who has only been named as 16-year-old ‘HB’ — understood to be Kermiche’s younger brother.

Dramatic images of ‘HB’ being arrested by police emerged on Tuesday afternoon.

Wearing a white t-shirt and blue jogging bottoms, a plain-clothes police officer marches the man away in handcuffs.

media_camera A general view of the church where a priest was killed in an attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France. Picture: AP

NUN DESCRIBES HORROR MASSACRE

Sister Danielle, a nun in the church during the attack, said she watched the two assailants force the priest to the ground before slashing his throat.

“They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that’s when the tragedy happened,” she told BFM television. “They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It’s a horror.”

The two “bearded” knifemen entered the Saint-Etienne parish church through a back door and took the worshippers for at least 40 minutes.

media_camera A French policeman arrests a man, understood to a relative of one of the attackers, following a search in a house near the church. Picture: AFP/Charly Triballeau

According to French media reports in Le Point, sources said the assailants shouted “Daesh”, an Arabic word in its own right meaning ‘a group of bigots who impose their will on others’.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

A statement published by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by “two soldiers of the Islamic State” who acted in response to calls to target nations in the US-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria.

It has since been revealed the church was on a terrorist “hit list” that French police have reportedly known about since April 2015 following the arrest of an extremist in Paris.

media_camera French soldiers stand guard as they prevent the access to the scene of the church attack. Picture: AP

media_camera Police officers closed off roads during the hostage situation. Picture: BFM via AP

FRENCH PRESIDENT: ‘WE WILL WIN THIS WAR’

French President Francois Hollande has vowed to win his country’s war against terrorism following the Normandy church attack.

In a televised address to the nation on Tuesday night, he said: “To attack a church, kill a priest, is to profane the republic.”

Saying the country is “waging war,” he urged his compatriots to stay united and not turn against each other.

He said: “What terrorists want is to divide us, separate us, set us against each other.”

He said France has deployed more security measures than at any other time in its modern history, but insisted that it wouldn’t go so far as to restrict freedoms and compromise democracy.

He vowed: “We will win this war.”

Hollande also visited the scene of the attack and expressed solidarity with local Catholics, saying “they have been terribly hit by the killing of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to belong to Daesh. I have met with the family of the priest.”

media_camera French President Francois Hollande speaks with emergency services personnel after arriving at the scene of the attack. Picture: France Pool via AP

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT SLAIN PRIEST

Reverend Jacques was born on November 30, 1930 in Darnetal, a small town east of Rouen.

The Bishops’ Conference says Hamel was ordained a priest on June 30, 1958. Hamel had been serving in the parish of Saint-Etienne-de-Rouvray since 2005.

Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed the death of Father Hamel.

“I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all nonbelievers to unite with this cry,” Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was expected.

“The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men.”

Let us ask Pere Jacques to pray for peace & an end to violence, particularly that which assails the human heart pic.twitter.com/GscODVjPjD — Fr John Hogan ن (@jshocds) July 26, 2016

Eulalie Garcia, who works in a beauty parlour on the same road as the church, told reporters that she knew the priest, who had taught her the catechism as a young girl.

“My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him,” she said.

“He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn’t like to draw attention to himself.”

She said she was very shocked by the death of the priest, who lived opposite his church.

Pope Francis condemned the attack in the strongest terms.

Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, said in a statement the attack hits particularly hard ‘‘because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced, and the barbaric murder of a priest.”

media_camera French police officers and firemen were quick to respond to the drama after a nun escaped from the church and raised the alarm. Picture: AFP

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted: “I am horrified by the barbaric attack on the church in Seine-Maritime. All of France and her Catholic citizens have been wounded. We stand in solidarity.”

Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said on France-Info radio that anti-terrorism investigators have been summoned in the case.

Police checked the church for explosives or booby-traps and forensic officers are taking fingerprints and DNA evidence, he also said.

AUSTRALIA CONDEMS ATTACKS

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was appalled by the murder of Father Hamel but said he is doing everything he can to keep Australia safe.

“My Government is absolutely committed to ensuring Australians stay safe and we understand the threat of terrorism is rapidly evolving,” he said.

“We constantly review and imimprove counterterrorism laws.”

Treasurer Scott Morrison described the attack as horrific and barbaric.

“It disturbs us all but it is intended to try and distract us and divide us from the things that we know will be effective in keeping Australians safe,” he told Sky News.

Countries like Australia and France need to continue to show their stoicism through tough anti-terror measures, he said.

media_camera French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told the media that anti-terrorism investigators have been summoned in the case. Picture: AFP

FRANCE ON HIGH ALERT

Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier.

The attack once again demonstrates the challenge of combating the threat. French authorities increased security at churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship after attacks in Paris last year, but ensuring constant, blanket security is difficult in a country with a church in every town and village.

In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State.

He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris.

A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the November 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people.

Originally published as IS men slash hostage in church attack