Priest killed in France church hostage taking

A priest was killed on Tuesday after a hostage situation at a church near the northern French city of Rouen, a police source said.

A priest was killed on Tuesday when two armed assailants seized hostages at a church near the northern French city of Rouen, police said.

Five people were inside the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when it came under attack, interior ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet said.

He said the church was surrounded by France’s anti-gang brigade the BRI, which specialises in

kidnappings, and that “the two assailants came out and were killed by police”.

Three of the hostages were freed unharmed, and another was fighting for their life. A police source said the priest of the Saint-Etienne church was killed.

The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor’s office said the case was being handled by anti-terrorism prosecutors.