France - Normandy church hostage incident

[robert99]

Hostage-takers at French church near Rouen are killed - BBC News
Assailants 'neutralised' after hostage-taking in French church - France 24
At least one dead in French church hostage taking | News | DW.COM | 26.07.2016
Hostage-takers at French church near Rouen are killed
Two armed men who took hostages at a church near Rouen in northern France are dead and one hostage has been killed, police and media have said.

The hostage-takers were reported to have been holding between four and six people at the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

A priest and two nuns, as well as churchgoers, were among those held, local media said.

France 3 television said a number of shots had been heard.

Police and the emergency services are at the scene. The area has been cordoned off and police have been telling people to stay away.

("neutralised" - the new way to say shot and killed )

 

[robert99]

Two knifemen killed after taking several hostages in Normandy church in France
Police have 'neutralised' two men who reportedly cut the throat of a priest and took a congregation hostage on Tuesday morning, according to early reports from a town in northern France.

Le Point identified the slain priest as Father Jacques Hamel, 86, who was ordained in 1958.

One other parishioner was killed, and a third person in the church injured along with a policeman, Le Point reported.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors have been assigned to the investigation.

Eyewitnesses told the newspaper that two men entered the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during mass, which was celebrated by a priest and attended by four worshippers including two nuns.

The pair were armed with knives, one was bearded and one said to wear a chachia, a traditional woolen north African hat.

They shouted "Daesh" as they entered the church, according to "corroborated sources" quoted by Le Point.

The assailants were 'neutralised' by police about 40 minutes later as they emerged from the church courtyard.

("Daesh" as far as I know is used as a term of derision by opponents of ISIS or the Islamic State -
"The term “Daesh” is strategically a better choice because it is still accurate in that it spells out the acronym of the group’s full Arabic name, al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. Yet, at the same time, “Daesh” can also be understood as a play on words — and an insult. Depending on how it is conjugated in Arabic, it can mean anything from “to trample down and crush” to “a bigot who imposes his view on others.” Already, the group has reportedly threatened to cut out the tongues of anyone who uses the term.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/10/09/words-matter-isis-war-use-daesh /V85GYEuasEEJgrUun0dMUP/story.html )

 

[robert99]

Priest killed in French church, attackers 'claimed to be from IS group' - France 24
Pierre-Henry Brandet, the spokesperson for the interior ministry, said the identities of the attackers remained unclear, but that anti-terrorism prosecutors would lead the investigation.

He told reporters at the scene that the two assailants had been killed by the BRI, a specialised police group, as they came out of the church building.

Police sources told French media that one of the two perpetrators was on one of France’s terror-watch lists, known as the “fiche S”. The man had been put under house arrest after attempting to reach Syria last year, the sources told AFP and iTele.

French police have arrested one person in connection with the attack, a source close to the inquiry said on Tuesday afternoon.

(This is really a bizarre event - two guys with KNIVES decide to take whoever is in a church hostage. They say they're from "Daesh" which is an insult to people in the Islamic State. Then they decide to walk out of the church leaving the hostages inside. Of course one of the guys was on France's terror watch list. All we can be certain of is an elderly priest is dead and someone else is seriously hurt.)

 

[robert99]

Normandy church attacker was 'bewitched' by Islamic State, mother tells media
Before the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in January 2015, 'AK' was a cheerful, music-loving and devout French teenager. But that terrorist atrocity, and the suspicion-filled aftermath, "acted like a detonator", his mother said.

Soon his greatest wish was to travel to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State, which his mother said had "bewitched" him over the internet.

On Tuesday, AK was identified as one of the young men who slit the throat of a Catholic priest during mass in a church in northern France.

A nun who was part of the congregation told BFM television the pair recorded themselves doing "a sort of sermon around the altar in Arabic". They forced the priest to his knees and cut his throat as he tried to defend himself.

(This only gets weirder ... )

 

[robert99]

One French church attacker identified as teen under house arrest - France 24
The two attackers were carrying a "fake explosive device covered in aluminium foil" when they entered the Catholic church, according to Molins.

Shortly after the police arrived, they used their hostages as human shields to block authorities from entering the church, he said.
...
The hostages then exited the church followed by the two attackers, one carrying a handgun. The assailants charged police, shouting "Allahu Akbar" (“God is great”) before officers opened fire.

French authorities identify second Normandy church attacker | News | DW.COM | 28.07.2016
French authorities identify second Normandy church attacker

Police and judicial sources in France say they have identified the second of two men who attacked a French church. He was known to security authorities as a potential Islamist militant.

The 19-year-old Frenchman was named as Abdel-Malik Nabil Petit Jean ... According to reports citing unnamed sources, security services had opened a special file on Petit Jean in late June for becoming radicalized. Broadcaster France Info reported that he had attempted to travel to Syria.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/world/europe/france-attack-priest-church-syria.html
The question troubling France on Wednesday in the wake of the attack by a teenager who aspired to go to Syria, but settled instead for cutting the throat of a priest, is whether the crime was a result of failures by the French government, and what more could have been done to prevent it.

Shock from the attack did not stifle new political accusations, with questions immediately raised about how a perpetrator well known to the authorities was nonetheless left free to kill.

 

[shyvas]

Muslims Refuse To Bury IS Priest Killer

 

[robert99]

France church attack: Friends' efforts to save 'brainwashed' Kermiche - BBC News
"But we just don't know why he then did what he did."
France church attackers 'smiled' and spoke of Koran
Then the men started talking about religion, asking the nun if she was familiar with the Koran.

"Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, I've read several suras. And those that hit me in particular are the suras about peace," Sister Helene responded.

One of the attackers replied: "Peace, it's what we want... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop."

 

[Moll Flanders]

France church attack: Muslims attend Mass - BBC News

 

[robert99]

French police arrest second man in connection with priest’s murder - France 24
Police in southwest France arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the jihadist killing of a priest in a Normandy church last month, judicial sources said Wednesday.
The man arrested Monday in the Toulouse area is the second to be held in connection with the murder of 85-year-old Jacques Hamel, whose throat was slit in front of worshippers while he was celebrating mass in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on July 26.

A police source said he had been in contact with the cleric's killers, Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

 

[robert99]

Second suspect charged in connection with murder of French priest - France 24
A French court on Friday charged and remanded in custody a 21-year-old man arrested in connection with the jihadist murder of a priest in a Normandy church last month, a judicial source said.

The man, the second to be held in connection with the killing of 85-year-old Jacques Hamel, was charged with "criminal association in connection with terrorism", after his arrest on Monday in the Toulouse area, the source said.

Just before the July 26 attack, the man had travelled to the Rouen region in northern France where he met Hamel's killers Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, both 19 years old, according to a source close to the investigation.

The suspect, who is unemployed, claimed he was radicalised quickly and investigators believe he was mentally unstable, according to the source.