Church hostage situation in France ends with priest, 2 attackers dead

Two attackers seized hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage by slitting his throat before being killed by police, a security official said.

Another person inside the church was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.

The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named.

French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve are en route to the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray where the hostage-taking took place, Brandet said on France-Info radio.

Brandet, speaking later on BFM TV, said the RAID special intervention force was searching the church and its perimeter for possible explosives. Terrorism investigators have been summoned, he said.

It is unclear how many people were inside the church, though Reuters reported that there were up to six people taken hostage, including the priest and two nuns.

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 ISIS. France is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence in the wake of the July 14 Nice attack.