Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The Normandy church targeted by two jihadists who killed its 84-year-old priest was one of several Catholic houses of worship on a hit list found on an ISIS terrorist

Authorities discovered the hit list on a 24-year-old Algerian IT student whom they arrested in Paris in April 2015 for killing a woman who was found dead in the passenger seat of her burning car. Dance instructor Aurelie Chatelain, 32, a mother of one, had just attended a Pilates class when she was shot three times in the head in what authorities believe may have been an attempt by Sid Ahmed Ghlam to hijack her vehicle. Ghlam, who called an ambulance after shooting himself in the leg, was found with Kalashnikov assault rifles, a police-issue pistol and several bullet-proof vests. Authorities also found documents about Al-Qaeda and ISIS in his apartment and on his computer and phone that suggested he was in touch with a French speaker in Syria who had ordered him to attack churches. The hit list included the famed Sacré-Coeur basilica in Paris and places of worship, such as the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church, where the recent barbarism unfolded. Ghlam is being held in a high-security prison while waiting trial on murder, attempted murder and other charges connected to a terrorist organization.

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