'You Christians, you kill us': Nun reveals words of ISIS knifemen who forced elderly priest, 84, to kneel at altar as they slit his throat on camera after invading Mass - before police shot them

• Priest had throat cut while another hostage is fighting for life after knifemen burst into Normandy church at 9am
• Nun who escaped said killers told her 'You Christians, you kill us' before they killed Father Jacques Hamel
• ISIS claim responsibility for the atrocity while Francois Hollande says France is 'at war' with the terror group
• One attacker named as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, known to police for twice trying to join the terror group in Syria 
• He was jailed but released on bail - under conditions that allowed him to roam free in the morning and kill the priest 
• French authorities revealed they arrested a third man, a 16-year-old Saint-Etienne resident, relating to the attack
• Nicolas Sarkozy calls for 'merciless' response as ex-PM said 'everything is being done to trigger a war of religions'

One of a pair of ISIS knifemen who stormed a church in Normandy before slitting the throat of an elderly priest has been named as known terror threat Adel Kermiche. 

The 19-year-old 'ISIS soldier' was being monitored with an electronic ankle tag after he was arrested for twice attempting to flee France to join the terror group in Syria.

Despite having been released early from prison, Kermiche's bail conditions allowed him to roam unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm, leaving him free to murder the priest in the attack carried out between 9am and 11am.

Kermiche and his accomplice - also known to French police - forced 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel to kneel before filming themselves butchering him and performing a 'sermon in Arabic' at the altar of the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, according to witnesses.

Both were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building shouting 'Allahu Akbar' following the attack that also left a nun critically injured.

Sister Danielle, a nun who escaped, said: 'They told me "you Christians, you kill us". They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened. They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror.'

French President Francois Hollande, who visited the scene on Tuesday, said the country is now 'at war' with ISIS after the terror group claimed responsibility.

 

Adel Kermiche (pictured right and left, in 2011), 19, has been named as one of the two ISIS knifemen who stormed into a church in Normandy and cut the throat of an 84-year-old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel before being shot dead by police

A French policeman cordons off the area around the body of one of the two knifemen. Parisian prosecutor Francois Molins revealed that the pair were carrying a fake bomb with a timer, a handgun and knives during the attack and said they used nuns as human shields

Father Jacques Hamel had his throat cut in the attack that also left a nun critically injured. He was at the church because he was filling in for the local priest who was on holiday

These mobile phone images are believed to be the last photographs taken of Father Hamel before he died. Survivor Sister Danielle said: 'Jacques loved all people regardless of religion. That is all I can say. A faithful priest, a priest who loved everybody, who loved much'

French authorities admitted that both Kermiche and his partner were subject to security 'S' files, meaning they were known terror suspects who should have been under surveillance. 

Kermiche was living with his parents in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray with an electronic tag on his ankle, after spending time in prison in both France and Switzerland.

Parisian prosecutor Francois Molins revealed that the pair were carrying between them a fake explosives belt with a kitchen timer wrapped in tin foil, a backpack full of fake guns and three knives during the attack, and said they used nuns as human shields.