Islamists attack French church, slit priest’s throat

SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France,  (Reuters) – Knife-wielding attackers interrupted a French church service, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat yesterday, a murder made even more shocking as one of the assailants was a known would-be jihadist under supposedly tight surveillance.

As the attackers came out of the church shouting “Allahu akbar” (“God is Greatest”) they were shot and killed by police.

The men arrived during morning mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class town near Rouen, northwest of Paris, where the 85-year-old parish priest, Father Jacques Hamel, was leading prayers.