ISIS claims responsibility for Rouen church attack

ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack at a French church that left a priest dead and another person seriously injured.

The priest, 84-year old Father Jacques Hamel, two nuns and two churchgoers were taken hostage during mass on Tuesday morning at a church in Saint-Etienne-Du-Rouway, near Rouen.

According to reports, the priest’s throat was slit, while one of the other hostages is being treated for serious injuries.

The attackers were shot dead by the police.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called the attack “barbaric”. Meanwhile, the Vatican said in a statement: “We are particularly moved because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place where the love of God is declared, with the barbaric killing of a priest and the involvement of the faithful.”

France is currently on high alert, having extended its state of emergency by another three months after a terror attack in Nice which saw a man drive a truck through crowds celebrating Bastille Day, leaving 84 people dead and hundreds injured.