A cleric has been slaughtered in an assault by two equipped men at his congregation in a suburb of Rouen in northern France.
The aggressors entered the congregation in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray amid Mass, taking the cleric, Fr Jacques Hamel, 84, and four other individuals prisoner.
Police later encompassed the congregation and French TV said shots were discharged. Both prisoner takers are currently dead.
President Francois Hollande said the men asserted to be from supposed Islamic State (IS).
Talking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, he said the aggressors had submitted a "weak death" and France would battle IS "definitely".
The IS-connected Amaq news office said "two fighters of the Islamic State" had completed the assault.
Pope Francis discredited the "agony and frightfulness of this ridiculous savagery".
French inside service representative, Pierre-Henri Brandet, said one of the prisoners had been basically injured.
He said the prisoner takers had been "killed" in the wake of leaving the congregation. Police were currently hunting the congregation down explosives.
"Prized" minister
Police sources said it showed up the assailants had opening the minister's throat with a blade.
The range has been cordoned off and police have advised individuals to stay away.
Mr Brandet said the examination concerning the episode would be driven by hostile to terrorism prosecutors.
One of the men was known not French knowledge administrations, French TV channel M6 has reported.
French policeman at St Etienne-du-Rouvray town hallImage copyrightREUTERS
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French police took up positions at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray town corridor
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has communicated his loathsomeness at the "primitive assault".
"The entire of France and all Catholics are injured. We will stand together," he composed on Twitter.
The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who was going to a Catholic social occasion in Poland, said: "I shout out to God with all men of goodwill. I would welcome non-adherents to participate in the cry.
"The Catholic Church can't take weapons other than those of supplication and fraternity among men."
Examination - BBC security reporter Frank Gardner
After reactions of police inadequacies over the Nice assault on 14 July, French hostile to terrorist police moved with admirable velocity to shut down this prisoner circumstance in a Norman church.
Spectators have brought up that France and different nations are presently moving all the more rapidly towards what is called strategic mediation - overpowering furnished power went for minimizing the period amid which terrorists or outfitted lawbreakers can undermine general society.
The choice of a congregation by the aggressors, whatever their intentions end up being, crosses another red line in the troubling history of late assaults on mainland Europe. The homicide of a 84-year-old cleric in this assault will have further kindled general conclusion.
News that one of the aggressors was on the French government's fear watch-list, known as the S rundown, will provoke numerous to scrutinize its motivation on the off chance that he can stay everywhere to convey a blade into a congregation.