An attacker armed with a sawn-off shotgun wounded a Greek Orthodox priest in a shooting in the southeastern French city of Lyon before fleeing, police sources said on Saturday.
The priest was closing his church in the city's seventh arrondissement when the attack happened, the source told AFP, who asked not to be named.
Reuters cited an anonymous police source as saying that the priest was fired on twice at around 4 p.m. local time (1500 UTC/GMT), and was treated on site for life-threatening injuries.
The priest is now in a local hospital after being hit in the abdomen, a police official told The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Jean Castex, who was visiting Rouen, said he was heading back to Paris to assess the situation.
The attacks have a debate that pits the country's strict secularism and free speech laws against Islamic religious sensitivities.
The government has deployed thousands of soldiers to protect sites such as places of worship and schools. »