ISIS Releases Video Of Killers Who Slit Throat Of Priest During Mass In France, Shows Duo Pledging Allegiance To Terror Group
The Islamic State has taken credit for the horrific murder of Father Jacques Hammel. The French priest was forced to kneel at the altar as he led mass at a Normandy church before killers Abdel Malik and Adel Kermiche slit his throat in front of the Catholic parishioners. The ISIS-sympathizers then used nuns as a human shield as they tried to escape the church. ISIS has since released a video showing the two killers pledging allegiance to the terror group prior to Father Hammel’s murder.
French police killed 2 attackers who had taken hostages in a church in #France and slit the throat of a priest.#ISIS pic.twitter.com/NYTVCcpFzJ
— Noorani Tejani (@NooraniTejani) July 26, 2016
The Daily Mail reports that ISIS has claimed responsibility for the murder of Catholic priest Father Jacques Hammel. The priest was killed while he led mass at the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy. Father Hammel was at the altar when the two teenage terrorists entered the church and took the priest hostage in front of the congregation. The terrorists then forced a man from the congregation to get out his cellphone and told him to film what was about to happen.
Two Isis thugs slit the throat of an 84 year old priest in a French Church. When does the west wake up??? https://t.co/f0GFwusdAX
— John M. Viola (@JohnMViola) July 26, 2016
The two Islamic State “soldiers” then knifed the priest in the back and arms before slitting his throat as the church-goers looked on in horror. A nun named Sister Danielle recounted the horrific attack. According to the BBC, Sister Danielle says that the priest was forced to his knees and “wanted to fight back” so the two teens slit his throat. She says the entire ordeal was filmed and that the two began preaching on the altar in Arabic before slaying the priest.
“They forced [Fr Hamel] to his knees. He wanted to defend himself, and that’s when the tragedy happened. They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It’s a horror.”
An elite team of police officers specialized in hostage situations responded to the scene and found the two terrorists using nuns as human shields. The team was able to use a sharpshooter to take out the two killers without harming the nuns. Following the murder, the Islamic State announced that two of their “soldiers” had killed Father Hammel and took responsibility for the devastation.
While little was initially known about the two teens who killed the priest, it is now known that the pair had both recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and the group proved the allegiance by releasing a video of the teens’ pledge.
Abdel Malik P. is being denoted as a homegrown French terrorist as he was born and raised in France and was converted in the country. He lived in a town in the Alps called Aix-les-Bains and police say they are fully investigating his background and how he was converted to the extremist group. Neighbors claim that the teen regularly attended Mosque Lafin which was located north of the city, but they never suspected he was a follower of ISIS.
The teen terrorist’s mother is still in disbelief and says she refuses to believe reports that her son killed the priest and was associated with ISIS. She says that her son is “not the monster” that they are “trying to make him out to be” but admitted that she has not heard from her son since the priest’s slaying.
“I don’t believe this. He is a good Frenchman. He’s sweet. I know my kid. I know my son – he’s not involved in this. He’s not the monster they’re trying to make us believe he is.”
What do you think about the identification of the French priest slayers as potentially homegrown French ISIS converts?
[Photo by Francois Mori/AP Images]