French Church Attack: IS claims attack on church that killed Priest

France: French President Francois Hollande said two "terrorists claiming to be followers of Islamic State" stormed a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in the north-eastern region of Upper Normandy in northern France, took several people hostage, killing an 84-year-old priest identified as Jacques Hamel and critically wounding another person on Tuesday. The two assailants were killed by police who surrounded the site when they tried to escape the church said French officials.

Soon after President Hollande's statement, the Islamic State group released a statement through its Aamaq Agency's channels on the Telegram messaging app claiming responsibility for the attack and said that the killers were two of its "soldiers".
Aamaq said the attack came in response to Islamic State's calls urging its followers to attack states taking part in the international coalition fighting it.

"We are confronted by Islamic State, which has declared war on us," Hollande said.

"We must conduct this war by all means, respecting the rights that make us a democracy. What the terrorists want is to divide us."

President Hollande said he would welcome the archbishop of Normandy on Tuesday evening, followed by a meeting with leaders from all religions in France.

"It is all French who have been touched. This is why we must remain together, within a unified group, in a bloc that no one is able to break apart."