Tag: Pierre-Henry Brandet

Priest killed in French church before police shoot dead hostage-takers

  (REUTERS)  Two attackers killed a priest with a blade and seriously wounded another hostage in a church in northern France on Tuesday before being shot dead by French police. There were no immediate details on the identity or motives of the two assailants but the investigation was handed to the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. A police source said it appeared that the priest had his throat slit. The Vatican condemned what […]

At least 84 dead in ‘terrorist’ Nice truck attack

  by Catherine Marciano with Fran Blandy in Paris NICE, France (AFP) — A gunman smashed a truck into a crowd of revellers celebrating Bastille Day in the French resort of Nice, killing at least 84 people in what President Francois Hollande on Friday declared a “terrorist” attack. Police shot the driver dead after he barrelled the truck two kilometres (1.3 miles) through a crowd that had been enjoying a fireworks display for France’s national […]

No hostage-taking after France truck ‘attack’: government

NICE, France (AFP) — The French government denied there was a hostage-taking incident after a truck ploughed into a crowd watching a fireworks display in Nice killing at least 60 people on Thursday. “There is no hostage-taking,” interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told AFP, denying dozens of rumors following the incident. “An individual drove a truck into the crowd. He was killed by police,” he said. “Investigations are currently under way to establish if the […]