French Priest Jacques Hamel was killed when two attackers slit the throat of the 86-year-old's throat. Credit:AP French President Francois Hollande identified the attackers as Islamist terrorists, and the IS news agency Amaq cited a security source saying the attack was by "soldiers of the Islamic State". Anti-terrorism prosecutors have been assigned to the investigation. French prosecutor Francois Molins said one of the attackers, Adel Kermiche, had been arrested and imprisoned after becoming radicalised and trying to reach Syria to fight for IS. However, he was released by a judge in March and put under house arrest. Later on Tuesday evening, in a televised address to the nation, Mr Hollande said France would defeat terrorism "by persevering".

Priest identified as Father Jacques Hamel (right), 84, was killed by knifemen in a church in France. He did not flag new measures to address the threat, but emphasised the existing ones would be applied to their fullest. "This war will be a long one," he said. "Our country must avoid overreaction, polemics, confusion and suspicion ... It is our unity that will give us strength." Police officers in Normandy following an attack on a church that left a priest dead. Credit:AP Mr Molins said two men carrying blades entered the church during morning Mass about 9.25am and took six people hostage - the priest, three nuns and a couple of parishioners.

Witnesses told Le Figaro the attackers were armed with knives, one was bearded and one was said to have worn a chachia, a traditional woollen north African hat. French President Francois Hollande shakes hands with police and security personnel in Normandy. Credit:AP They shouted "Allahu Akbar" as they entered the church, "corroborated sources" told Le Point. Sister Daniele, a nun who was in the church, told French television she thought "that's it, it's over" when the attackers stormed in. Adel Kermiche, a younger age. Credit:Facebook

"It was at the foot of the altar, they forced [the priest] to kneel and not move – and then we saw the knife in their right hand," she said. "They took to the floor to speak in Arabic … I didn't understand everything they said, but they shouted, 'You Christians, you are oppressing us.' " Adel Khermiche In another interview, she said: "They did a sort of sermon around the altar in Arabic. It's horrific." Sister Daniele escaped while they were attacking the priest. She did not see his murder.

The church where a 84-year-old priest was murdered in an attack in Normandy, France. Credit:AP "I set off running and I stopped the first car I saw. The driver called the police and they arrived very quickly." Police tried to negotiate with the terrorists through a small side door at the back of the church leading to the sacristy. They then tried to enter but were unable to because the attackers used three hostages as a human shield to block the door, Mr Molins said. The two nuns and a parishioner then left the church followed by the terrorists, one of whom was carrying a handgun, Mr Molins said. They headed for the police crying "Allahu Akbar" and were shot down.

One of the attackers had a fake explosive device on his belt and three knives. The other had a timepiece wrapped in aluminium foil in a backpack with a fake explosive. Police then entered the church to search for explosives. None were found. They found the body of the priest, who died of wounds to his chest and throat. Mr Molins said Kermiche, a local teenager born in 1997, had been identified through his fingerprints. In March 2015 he was arrested in Germany trying to get to Syria using his brother's ID. Two months later, he again tried to join IS and this time got as far as Turkey. He was remanded in custody in France, but in March a judge ordered that he instead be kept under house arrest, and he was allowed to leave home for up to four hours a day. The Paris prosecutor appealed against this decision to release him but it was confirmed by an appeal court.

Sid Ahmen Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian student who was arrested and imprisoned after planning to attack places of Catholic worship in the Paris region had previously identified the same church as a potential target, Le Figaro reported. The attack comes with the country still on high alert after the Bastille Day massacre in Nice. "I cry out to God with all men of goodwill," said the archbishop of Rouen Dominique Lebrun in a press release issued by the Rouen diocese, in which the church lies. He said there were three victims: Father Hamel and his killers. Three other people were injured, one very seriously. He said he would return from World Youth Day in Poland and "I will be tonight in my diocese with families and the shocked parish community." He called on young people not to give in to violence but to "become apostles of the civilisation of love".

On social media, the "je suis pretre" ("I am priest") hashtag began spreading. Catholics called for Pope Francis to put the slain priest on a fast track for sainthood. Roberto Maroni, president of the Lombard region, said Father Hamel was a "martyr of faith". At the Vatican, a spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, said that Pope Francis was horrified at the "barbaric killing" of a priest. Mr Hollande said the attack was a "cowardly assassination" by two terrorists. Visiting the church, he said he had spoken to the family of the dead priest and also a parishioner who had been taken hostage. He linked the "despicable terrorist attack" directly to Islamic State, saying "over the past few days and the past few years we have been facing IS, who have declared war against us". "It's not only Catholics targeted, it is all French people," he said.

"We should be part of a 'bloc', a unity that nobody can divide ... the terrorists will stop at nothing if we do not stop them." He praised police and emergency services who, he said, had avoided a higher death toll with their quick intervention. Mr Hollande later met Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Justice Minister Bernard Cazeneuve at the Elysee Palace. The attack drew statements of condemnation from across French society. Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, declared that "Muslims stand together behind the government to defend France and its institutions." The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions said that the attack "marks a new stage in the spread of terrorism in France".

Right-wing politician Marine Le Pen tweeted the modus operandi led her to "obviously fear another attack by Islamist terrorists". Mr Valls tweeted his "horror at the barbaric attack … the whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together."