wo men armed with knives have taken a number of hostages in a church located near Rouen in northern France.
The identities of the knifemen, their motives, and the precise number of hostages are not known at this stage.
According to Reuters, police estimate that between four and six people are being held hostage at the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church in Normandy.
France 3 news network identified a priest, two nuns and at least two worshipers as among those held captive.
France’s Le Figaro reports that the attackers slit the priest’s throat, fatally wounding him.
A police SWAT team arrived at the scene shortly after and shot the two attackers dead.
Police confirmed to Reuters that one hostage was killed “with a blade”, though they did not give any further details.
Details to follow.
It is the latest violent attack in Europe in recent weeks, after a series of stabbing incidents, a deadly shooting and a suicide bombing in nearby Germany.
Most of those incidents were carried out by Muslim terrorists inspired by ISIS, but there is no word as yet on the identity of the latest attackers.
It also comes just a few weeks after a deadly terror attack in the French city of Nice, in which a jihadist terrorist plowed a truck into a crowd of people, killing more than 80.
Unlike in that incident, as well as recent attacks in Germany, this latest attack appears to have been more organized, given that two assailants were involved.
France has been rocked by a string of Islamist terror attacks of late, and pressure is building on the embattled government of Francois Hollande to take effective action to curb the attacks.
PARIS – A French security official says police have killed two attackers who used knives to seize hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen.
The official said the identities of the attackers and motive for the attack on Tuesday are unclear. Interior Minister Bernard Cazenevue is en route to the town of Saint-Etienne-en-Rouvray where the hostage-taking took place, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named.
The incident comes as France is under high alert after an attack in Nice that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group.