An 86-year-old priest has been 'beheaded' by two 'Islamic' knifemen who cut his throat after bursting into a French church and taking nuns and worshippers hostage before being shot dead by police.
Five people including the priest, two nuns and two parishioners were held by assailants who raided the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near the city of Rouen in Normandy at 9am.The clergyman, named as Jacques Hamel, is believed to have been beheaded during the attack while another hostage is fighting for their life in hospital.
The two attackers have been 'neutralised' by elite marksmen in a dramatic police operation while the building is being searched for explosives.
At least one of the men was dressed in Islamic clothing, according to French media reports, and an anti-terrorist unit has already taken up the investigation.
Pope Francis has expressed his 'pain and horror' at the incident with a spokesman saying the Pontiff was appalled by the 'barbaric killing' because it happened in a sacred place.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Just Welby urged people to 'pray for France, for victims, for their communities'.
Footage from the scene shows emergency crews, including elite police squads, arriving at the Church of the Gambetta and one person being stretchered into an ambulance.
The clergyman, ordained in 1958, had his throat cut, said a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Paris.
Source: Dailymail
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