RENNES// A nun who witnessed the murder of an elderly Catholic priest in a French church has told how the killer smiled as he slit the throat of Father Jacques Hamel.
And In Belgium. police have charged a e3-year-old man with attempting to commit "terrorist murders".
Sister Huguette Peron was onf three nuns present when two men stormed into the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy, northern France during mass on July 26. At first they were nervous and aggressive, she said. "Then I got a smile from the second man. Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy," she told the Catholic newspaper La Vie.
One nun managed to escape and raise the alarm, leaving Sister Huguette and Sister Helene Decaux, both in their 80s.
The men began talking about religion and asked Sister Helene if she was familiar with the Quran. She replied, "Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible. I've read several suras, and those struck me in particular are the suras about peace."
One of the attackers replied: "Peace, it's what we want ... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop."
She was then asked if she was afraid to die. When she said no, they asked, "Why?" She replied, "I believe in God and I know I will be happy."
When they insisted she was wrong, Sister Huguette said, "Maybe, but too bad.
At one point, Sister Helene said she was tired and asked for her walking stick. They gave it to her and allowed her to sit down.
The killers, later named as Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both 19, had pledged allegiance to ISIL and were themselves killed by the police. Neighbours and acquaintances said Kermiche was "obsessed" with going to Syria.
Meanwhile in Belgium anti-terrorist police arrested two brothers, named only as Noureddine H and Hamza H after searching seven addresses in Mons and Liege., both in the French-speaking part of the country. Noureddine H, has been charged with attempting to commit "terrorist murders" and participating in a terror group but his brother was released without charge. No weapons or explosives were found and the state prosecutor said there was no immediately obvious connection between the brothers and the March 22 bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station near the headquarters of the European Union., which killed 22 people.
Belgian authorities last month charged two men with terrorist offences amid reports of a planned attack on a euro 2016 fanzine in central Brussels. Security was beefed up for the national day celebrations on July 21 which came a week after the lorry-ramming attack that killed 84 people in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14.
Calculating per head of population, Belgium has supplied more recruits to ISIL in Syria than any other EU country. According to the Belgian interior ministry, 457 Belgian men and women have gone or tried to join terrorists in the Middle East, including 90 who are missing or dead.
* Agence France-Presse
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