Spanish authorities stated they have been investigating what they known as a attainable “terrorist” incident after a machete-wielding man attacked a number of folks at two church buildings within the southern port metropolis of Algeciras, killing at the least one individual.
The person attacked clergymen at two completely different church buildings – San Isidro and Nuestra Senora de La Palma, round 300 metres aside – simply after 8pm on Wednesday night (25 January) in downtown Algeciras, a spokesperson for the town stated. A supply at Madrid’s Excessive Courtroom stated the incident was being investigated as terrorism
Police stated the attacker had been arrested, and a police supply shared footage displaying two officers escorting a person in a hooded sports activities high in handcuffs by a police station. Police haven’t launched particulars of his title or nationality. Native media, together with El Pais newspaper, stated he was a 25-year-old Moroccan.
The person who was killed was Diego Valencia, a sacristan on the Nuestra Senora de La Palma church, whereas the titular priest of the parish church of San Isidro, Antonio Rodriguez, was among the many injured and is in severe situation, the Algeciras metropolis spokesperson stated.
An unknown variety of others have been additionally injured. El Mundo newspaper reported that 4 folks have been damage within the assault.
Police stated the suspect first entered the San Isidro church and attacked Rodriguez. A press release by the Algeciras Salesians stated Rodriguez, 74, had been celebrating Eucharist when he was attacked.
The assailant then went into the Nuestra Senora de La Palma church the place he broken property earlier than attacking Valencia, who fled the church however was chased by the suspect, who inflicted additional, deadly accidents on him exterior, police stated in a press release.
The parish priest at Nuestra Senora de La Palma, Juan Jose Marina, informed broadcaster SER the suspect went straight for Valencia after the mass had completed, suggesting he might need believed Valencia was the priest.
“Probably, this demise was meant for me and it discovered him as a substitute,” stated a tearful Marina.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his condolences to the victims of the “horrible assault” on his Twitter account, whereas the secretary common of Spain’s Episcopal Convention, Francisco Garcia, spoke of his “nice ache” on listening to the information.
“These are unhappy instances of struggling, we’re united by the ache of the victims’ households and for the Cadiz Diocese,” he stated on Twitter.
Jose Ignacio Landaluce, the mayor of Algeciras, has declared a day of mourning within the metropolis for Thursday and a rally exterior Nuestra Senora de La Palma church at noon.
Earlier on Wednesday, two folks have been killed and a number of other others injured when a 33-year-old stateless Palestinian man attacked them with a knife on a regional prepare travelling between Kiel and Hamburg in northern Germany, authorities stated.
