Still in shock from the Bastille Day terror attack on a crowded Riviera seafront, France yesterday witnessed horror in another corner of the country: a Catholic church in a quiet town in Normandy, where two suspected Islamist assailants slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest.
The men, armed with knives, stormed the church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a few kilometres south of Rouen, shortly before 10am during morning mass, taking hostage five people including Father Jacques Hamel.
Police shot the two attackers dead when they emerged after about an hour. Three of the other four hostages — two nuns and two churchgoers — were wounded, one in critical condition, according to local church authorities. At least one man was in custody in connection with the murder.