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Attack on Church in France Kills Priest, and ISIS Is Blamed ISIS Says Its ‘Soldiers’ Attacked Church in France, Killing Priest
(about 3 hours later)
ST.-ÉTIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France — Two men with knives stormed a parish church in northern France on Tuesday morning and took several hostages, slitting the throat of an 85-year-old priest and critically injuring another person, before the attackers were shot dead by the police, officials said. ST.-ÉTIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France — Attendance was sparse at the 9 a.m. Mass on Tuesday at the Église St.-Étienne, a 17th-century church in a working-class town in Normandy. Many regular parishioners were on vacation; so was the parish priest.
President François Hollande blamed the Islamic State for the attack — the latest in a series of assaults that have left Europe stunned, fearful and angry — and soon after the terrorist group claimed responsibility, calling the attackers its “soldiers.” Mass was ending around 9:30 a.m. when two young men with knives burst in. They forced the auxiliary priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, 85, to kneel. When he resisted, they slit his throat. They held several worshipers and at least one nun hostage, while another nun escaped. Officers from a specialized police unit descended on the church. A short while later, officers shot the young men dead.
Mr. Hollande traveled to St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, the town in Normandy where the attack occurred, and met the priest’s family and the town’s mayor, Hubert Wulfranc. “We must realize that the terrorists will not give up until we stop them,” Mr. Hollande said. “It is our will. The French must know that they are threatened, that we are not the only country — Germany is, as well as others — and that their strength lies in their unity.” The brutality in St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen in northern France, was the latest in a series of assaults that have left Europe stunned, fearful and angry. President François Hollande raced to the town and blamed the Islamic State for the attack; soon after, the terrorist group claimed responsibility, calling the attackers its “soldiers.”
The Rev. Jacques Hamel, the church’s auxiliary priest, was stabbed to death around 9:30 a.m., as Mass was ending. Two nuns and three worshipers were held hostage. Two people were injured, one of them severely. It was the fourth attack linked to the Islamic State in Western Europe in less than two weeks, after a Bastille Day rampage in Nice that killed 84 people; an ax and knife attack on a train in Würzburg, Germany, that injured five people; and a suicide bombing at a wine bar in Ansbach, Germany.
“I heard several gunshots,” said Pascal Quilan, who works at a funeral home near the church. “Then, loads of police.” He added, referring to Father Hamel: “It’s a huge loss for the town. He was someone with lots of humility. It’s really unimaginable.” “We must realize that the terrorists will not give up until we stop them,” Mr. Hollande said after meeting with the priest’s family and the town’s mayor, Hubert Wulfranc. “It is our will. The French must know that they are threatened, that we are not the only country — Germany is, as well as others — and that their strength lies in their unity.”
As the crisis unfolded, the National Police urged residents via Twitter to keep away from the scene and not enter a security perimeter that had been established around the church. By the evening, one man was in custody, and the police were conducting raids and homing in on the possibility that both attackers were from the area.
Redwan Chentouf, 18, said he went to secondary school with one of the men believed to involved in the attack, whom he identified as Adel Kermiche, 19. The newspaper Le Monde, which identified the teenager as Adel K., said he had tried twice last year to enter Syria, and was placed under electronic monitoring by the police in March.
“He tried to go to Syria,” Mr. Chentouf said. “At the last Ramadan, he said we should all go to Syria. He tried to push propaganda on us.” Until then, Mr. Chentouf said, Mr. Kermiche was a normal teenager, who drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes. He said he last saw Mr. Kermiche on Saturday at a subway station in Rouen. He was dressed in a long robe and had a beard. “He was perfectly calm,” Mr. Chentouf said.
The attack underscored the vulnerability of France, which has sustained three major terrorist attacks in 19 months: an assault on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and other locations around Paris in January 2015, which killed 17 people; coordinated attacks on a soccer stadium, the Bataclan concert hall, and cafes and restaurants in and around Paris on Nov. 13, which killed 130 people; and the Nice truck attack.
The country has been concerned about the threat against churches for some time. In April 2015, the authorities arrested Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian computer science student. He had amassed a trove of weapons in a Paris apartment and was thought to be planning an attack on at least one church. He was a suspect in the killing of a 32-year-old woman, Aurélie Châtelain, whose body was found in a parked car in Villejuif, a Paris suburb.
Mr. Ghlam had been ordered by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian militant who went on to help organize the November attacks on Paris, to open fire on a church in Villejuif, according to a report by French antiterrorism police, but the attack was not carried out.
Since the Villejuif plot was foiled, many houses of worship in France, including mosques and synagogues, have been on a heightened state of alert. The country has roughly 45,000 Catholic churches, so protecting them is a very difficult task.
St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class suburb inhabited by many retired chemical and metal workers, was a peaceful community, residents said, with a substantial immigrant population. The parish priest was of Congolese ancestry; the town’s mosque opened in 2000 on land donated by the Catholic parish.
Pascal Quilan, who works at a funeral home near the church, said that around 9:30 a.m.: “I heard several gunshots. Then, loads of police.” He added, referring to Father Hamel: “It’s a huge loss for the town. He was someone with lots of humility. It’s really unimaginable.”
Sister Danielle, a nun who escaped from the church, said of Father Hamel: “He knew what was happening.”
The Rouen unit of the B.R.I., a police team that specializes in major crimes like armed robberies and kidnappings, “arrived extremely quickly and positioned itself around the church,” an Interior Ministry spokesman, Pierre-Henry Brandet, told reporters in Paris.The Rouen unit of the B.R.I., a police team that specializes in major crimes like armed robberies and kidnappings, “arrived extremely quickly and positioned itself around the church,” an Interior Ministry spokesman, Pierre-Henry Brandet, told reporters in Paris.
The two hostage-takers left the church and were shot by the police, Mr. Brandet said. A police bomb squad searched the church to make sure it had not been booby-trapped with explosive devices. One man was arrested near the church and held for questioning. After the two assailants were shot, a police bomb squad searched the church to make sure it had not been booby-trapped.
St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class suburb of the ancient city of Rouen, is about 65 miles northwest of Paris and has about 29,000 inhabitants, including many retired chemical and metal workers. Townspeople said it was a peaceful community with a number of residents of immigrant ancestry. The town’s mosque opened in 2000 on land donated by the Catholic parish.
At the Vatican, a spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that Pope Francis was horrified at the “barbaric killing” of a priest and issued “the most severe condemnation of all forms of hatred.”At the Vatican, a spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that Pope Francis was horrified at the “barbaric killing” of a priest and issued “the most severe condemnation of all forms of hatred.”
The pope is scheduled to travel to Krakow, Poland, this week to attend the World Youth Day celebration. In a statement from Krakow, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen said that he would return home immediately and that his vicar general, or principal deputy, the Rev. Philippe Maheut, was on site to provide comfort to parishioners. The parish priest, the Rev. Auguste Moanda-Phuati, said by telephone that he, too, was racing back to the church from a vacation near Paris. Mr. Hollande spoke to the pope on Tuesday and told him “that when a priest is attacked, it is the whole of France that is hurt, and that all will be done to protect our churches and our places of worship,” the Élysée Palace said in a statement.
Archbishop Lebrun made an appeal for peace. “The Catholic Church has only prayer and brotherhood among men as its weapons,” he said. “I leave here hundreds of young people who are truly the future of humanity. I ask them not to give in to the violence, and to become apostles of the civilization of love.” In a statement from Krakow, Poland, where the pope is scheduled to travel this week to attend the World Youth Day celebration, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen said that he would return home immediately. So did the parish priest, the Rev. Auguste Moanda-Phuati. A memorial Mass was held at Rouen Cathedral, a Gothic landmark, on Tuesday evening as the nation yet again mourned victims of terrorism.
The attack drew statements of condemnation from across French society. Dalil Boubakeur, the president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, called the attack “barbaric and criminal” and declared that “Muslims stand together behind the government to defend France and its institutions.” The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions said that the attack “marks a new stage in the spread of terrorism in France” and that “the authorities and the population must now quickly adapt to this new emergency.” “The Catholic Church has only prayer and brotherhood among men as its weapons,” Archbishop Lebrun said in an appeal for peace. “I leave here hundreds of young people who are truly the future of humanity. I ask them not to give in to the violence, and to become apostles of the civilization of love.”
The attack drew condemnation from across French society. Dalil Boubakeur, the president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, called the attack “barbaric and criminal” and declared that “Muslims stand together behind the government to defend France and its institutions.” The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions said that the attack “marks a new stage in the spread of terrorism in France” and that “the authorities and the population must now quickly adapt to this new emergency.”
But the attack also renewed criticism of Mr. Hollande and his Socialist government from his political rivals. “We must be merciless,” Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr. Hollande’s predecessor as president and the leader of the opposition Republicans, said in a statement to reporters. “The legal quibbling, precautions and pretexts for insufficient action are not acceptable.”But the attack also renewed criticism of Mr. Hollande and his Socialist government from his political rivals. “We must be merciless,” Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr. Hollande’s predecessor as president and the leader of the opposition Republicans, said in a statement to reporters. “The legal quibbling, precautions and pretexts for insufficient action are not acceptable.”
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right Front National, who is also expected to run for the presidency, said that both major parties had failed the country. “All those who have governed us for 30 years bear an immense responsibility,” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s revolting to watch them bickering!” Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front and who is expected to run for the presidency, said that both major parties had failed the country. “All those who have governed us for 30 years bear an immense responsibility,” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s revolting to watch them bickering!”
France has had three major terrorist attacks in the space of 19 months: an assault on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and other locations around Paris in January 2015, which killed 17 people; coordinated attacks on a soccer stadium, the Bataclan concert hall, and cafes and restaurants in and around Paris on Nov. 13, which killed 130 people; and a rampage on July 14 in the southern city of Nice by a man who rammed a cargo truck into a Bastille Day crowd and shot at the police with a handgun, killing 84 people.
The country has been concerned about the threat against churches for some time. In April 2015, the authorities arrested Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian computer science student. He had amassed a trove of weapons in a Paris apartment, was thought to be planning an attack on at least one church, and was suspected in the killing of a 32-year-old woman, Aurélie Châtelain, whose body was found in a parked car in Villejuif, a Paris suburb.
Mr. Ghlam had been ordered by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian militant who went on to help organize the November attacks on Paris, to open fire on a church in Villejuif, according to a report by French antiterrorism police, but the attack was not carried out.
Since the Villejuif attack was foiled, many houses of worship in France, including mosques and synagogues, have been on a heightened state of alert. The country has roughly 45,000 Catholic churches, so protecting them is a very difficult task.
Father Hamel was born on Nov. 30, 1930, in Darnétal, a town about five miles from St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, and celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination in 2008.
“He could have retired at 75, but seeing how few priests were around he decided to stay and work, to continue to be of service to people, up until it all ended tragically,” Father Moanda-Phuati, the parish priest, said in a phone interview. “He was loved by all. He was a little like a grandfather. We were happy when he was around and worried when we hadn’t seen him in a while.”
The nave of the church, which has a slate roof, dates to the 16th century. A bell tower was added in the 17th century, and the choir was rebuilt in 1837. The church’s stained-glass windows were destroyed by German bombing in 1940.