Islamist knifemen forced priest, 84, to kneel and filmed his death as they slit his throat: Hollande says 'France is at war with ISIS' after jihadists storm French church during Mass chanting 'Allahu Akbar'
- Priest had throat cut while another hostage is fighting for life after knifemen burst into Normandy church at 9am
- Reports that one of the attackers shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as they launched assault at Gambetta Church near Rouen
- Vatican has condemned the 'barbaric' killing of the 84-year-old priest and an anti-terror investigation is underway
- ISIS claim responsibility for the atrocity while Francois Hollande says France is 'at war' with the terror group
- The attackers lived locally and one had electronic tag having been jailed in France for trying to travel to Syria
- French authorities revealed this afternoon that they have arrested a third man in connection with the attack
- Nicolas Sarkozy calls for 'merciless' response as ex-PM said 'everything is being done to trigger a war of religions'
Two ISIS knifemen who stormed a church in Normandy forced an elderly priest to kneel before filming themselves butchering him and performing a 'sermon in Arabic' at the altar, a terrified witness has revealed.
The attackers, claimed as 'soldiers' by ISIS, were both known to French police before they cut the throat of 84-year-old priest Jacques Hamel at the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen.
Both were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building shouting 'Allahu Akbar' following the attack that also left a nun critically injured.
French President Francois Hollande, who visited the scene today, said the country is now 'at war' with ISIS after the terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.
One of the killers was a French 19-year-old named as Adel Kermich, who was being monitored by electronic tag after being jailed for twice attempting to join ISIS in Syria.
After being released from jail early, his bail terms allowed him to be unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm. The attack happened between 9am and 11am.
He is understood to have forced the elderly priest to kneel while his accomplice, who also lived locally and was on a terrorist watchlist, filmed the brutal killing.
A third man, a 17-year-old known as HB and believed to be a relative of Kermich, was arrested at his home in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray following the attack.
The Catholic church involved was on a terrorist 'hit list' found in the apartment of a suspected ISIS extremist last April.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a 'merciless' response to the killing while 'horrified' ex-Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he feared 'everything is being done to trigger a war of religions'.
A nun who was in the church during the attack said the priest was forced to the ground before his throat was slit.
'They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened,' said the nun, identified as Sister Danielle.
'They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror,' she told BFM television.
The murdered clergyman was deputising while the regular parish priest was on holiday, it emerged this afternoon.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published by its Aamaq news agency. It said the killing was carried out by 'two soldiers of the Islamic State.' It added the killing was in response to its calls to target countries of the US-led coalition which is fighting ISIS.
French President Francois Hollande, visiting the scene of the attack, appealed for 'unity' in France, where political blame-trading has poisoned the aftermath of the Nice truck attack, the third major strike in the country in 18 months.
'The threat remains very high,' said Hollande. 'We are confronted with a group, Daesh, which has declared war on us. We have to wage war by every means, (but through) upholding the law, which is because we are a democracy.'
Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, expected to enter a conservative primary soon for next year's presidential election, jumped on the latest incident to accuse the Socialist government of being soft on terrorism.
'We must be merciless,' Sarkozy said in a statement to reporters. 'The legal quibbling, precautions and pretexts for insufficient action are not acceptable. I demand that the government implement without delay the proposals we presented months ago. There is no more time to be wasted.'
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee, added in a tweet: 'Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions.'
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.
He expressed his condemnation of 'every form of hatred' and offered his prayers to those involved.
Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi described it as another act of 'absurd violence'.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: 'Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities.'
The two men held the priest and congregation of four - which included two nuns - hostage for almost an hour before being shot as they emerged on to the courtyard of the church.
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