In what will come across as a devastating development, a deadly attack has been launched on a church.
Police officers speak to a driver as they close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France, July 26, 2016.
Two men armed with blades took several people hostage in a church in northern France on Tuesday.
However, they have been shot dead by the French police.
According to Reuters, a priest taken hostage was killed with a blade.
A police source said it looked like the priest had had his throat slit. Another hostage was reported to be seriously wounded.
French President Francois Hollande was on his way to the site of the attack.
It was not immediately clear if the assailants were killed or taken alive in the police operation that ended the assault.
Live TV images showed police had blocked off the roads around the church and paramedics were seen pulling stretchers out of ambulances.
The hostages included a priest, two nuns and two worshipers according to BFM TV.
The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe. In France, the Normandy attack comes 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice when he ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers. Islamic State claimed the attack in Nice.