France - Two men slit the throat of an elderly priest in the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray / Ex

(31 Jul 2016) A heavy police presence remained by a church targeted in an attack by two perpetrators linked to the Islamic State group on July 26th 2016 Earlier in the day, two men slit the throat of an elderly priest in the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray and used hostages as human shields before being shot by police. Father Jacques Hamel was celebrating Mass for three nuns and two parishioners on a quiet summer morning when the attackers burst in and forced the 85-year-old priest to his knees before killing him, according to authorities and a nun who escaped. It was the extremist group's first attack against a church in the West, and fulfils longstanding threats against 'crusaders' in what the militants paint as a centuries-old battle for power. *** Local Muslim leaders in Saint-Etienne-Du-Rouvray on July 26th condemned the attack against the town's church that left an 86-year-old Priest dead and several wounded. Regional representative of France's Muslim association Mohammed Karabila said the community was a victim "twice, as citizens first and as Muslims", because the perpetrators claimed to carry out their deeds in the name of Muslims. Karabila said that was completely alien to him and his congregation. Local community leaders have also started working alongside police forces and France's intelligence agencies to help identify youths suspected of having ties with radical preachers and Islamist militants. Kamel Ait Bessai's PAS 276 works closely with local authorities to get in contact with people who are likely targets of the Islamic State group's online propaganda. He said that radicalisation of young people, when it happened, took place away from the mosques where community leaders kept an eye on early signs. *** A Normandy church targeted in an attack by two perpetrators linked to the Islamic State group remained cordoned off by the police on July 27th. *** In a gesture of solidarity following the gruesome killing of a French priest, Muslims attended Catholic Mass in churches and cathedrals across the country and beyond on July 31st. Television footage showed dozens of Muslims gathering at France's towering Gothic cathedral in Rouen, only a few kilometres (miles) from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, where the 85-year-old priest was killed by two teenage attackers on Tuesday. Dominique Lebrun, the Archbishop of Rouen, said he was moved by the gesture by the local Muslim community. 00:48:13 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...