A sexton was killed and a priest seriously injured in a stabbing attack late Wednesday, January 25, in two churches in Algeciras, a port city in Andalusia. The motive of the assailant is currently unknown, but an investigation for alleged acts of terrorism has been opened, announced the prosecution.
“After 7 p.m., a man entered the church of San Isidro in Algeciras and attacked the priest, armed with a machete, seriously injuring him”reported the Ministry of the Interior in a message to the press. “He then went to the Nuestra Señora de La Palma church where he attacked the sexton, following causing various damages”says the message.
The sexton then “Managed to get out of the church but was caught outside by the assailant, who inflicted several fatal injuries on him”the ministry continued, adding that the assailant had been “immobilized and arrested” by the police.
The churches of San Isidro and Our Lady of La Palma are located within walking distance of each other in this town at the southern tip of Spain.
On Twitter, the head of the Spanish government, the socialist Pedro Sanchez, has ” address [ses] deepest condolences to the relatives of the sacristan who died in the terrible attack on Algeciras” and desired “a speedy recovery to the injured”.
The police, who had initially mentioned a toll of several wounded, however now indicate that only the priest was injured in the attack.
According to a spokeswoman for the emergency services, the priest was injured ” in the neck “ and hospitalized while the sexton died on the spot. The sexton was called Diego Valencia and the priest Antonio Rodríguez, according to the mayor of Algeciras.
day of mourning decreed
An investigation into alleged acts of terrorism has been opened, the prosecution told Agence France-Presse (AFP). It will be conducted by a magistrate of the National Audience, a court responsible in particular for terrorism cases, said the prosecution, without giving further details. The identity and nationality of the attacker have not been released by the authorities.
The mayor of Algeciras declared a day of mourning and invited residents to gather in a sign of “rejection” of this attack Thursday at 12 noon in front of the church near which the sexton was killed.
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Condemnations came from all sides. Juanma Moreno, president of the Andalusia region, qualified on Twitter this attack of “terrible and unbearable” . “We murdered a sexton and injured at least one priest”he denounced, while calling for the « prudence »while a “investigation is ongoing”. The leader of the People’s Party, the main formation of the right-wing opposition, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, said to himself “dismayed by the attacks committed this evening in Algeciras”.
“These criminal acts tarnish the coexistence that our society has always enjoyed in Algeciras (…) These reprehensible acts have nothing to do with our religion or with the Muslim community”denounced for its part the local Muslim community on the Facebook account of the Ishbilia mosque in Seville, capital of the region.
The last attacks perpetrated in Spain date back to August 2017, when two attacks by a jihadist cell left 16 dead and 140 injured on the avenue des Ramblas in Barcelona and in the seaside resort of Cambrils. They had been claimed by the Islamic State organization. The three survivors of this cell were sentenced to eight, forty-six and fifty-three years in prison.