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French police say a Greek Orthodox priest was shot today while closing his church in the city of Lyon, and authorities are searching for the attacker.
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The police continue to pursue his attacker, whose motive remains unclear, and the injuries to the priest’s stomach are considered life-threatening. Source: 1 NEWS
The priest, a Greek citizen, is in a local hospital with life-threatening injuries after receiving a blow to the abdomen, a police officer told The Associated Press. The attacker was alone and fired with a hunting rifle, said the official, who was not authorized to be publicly identified.
Police closed the neighborhood around the church and warned the public on Twitter to stay away. As night fell in Lyon, tapes of police and emergency vehicles could be seen in the images shown on French television.
The motive for the attack was unclear. It came two days after an extremist Islamic knife attack on a Catholic church in the French city of Nice that killed three people and amid tensions over the publication of cartoons in a French newspaper mocking the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
French counterterrorism authorities were not investigating today’s shooting, although the interior minister activated a special emergency team to follow up the case while the attacker was still on the run.
Prime Minister Jean Castex reiterated the government’s promises to deploy military forces to religious sites and schools. He said the French can “count on the nation so that they can practice their religion in complete safety and freedom.”
