Two men armed with knives have been shot dead after taking several people hostage in a church in northern France.
According to a Reuters police source, one of the hostages - a priest - was killed and had his throat slit.
A second hostage is reportedly fighting for their life.
Five people were being held by the knifemen in the church in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near the city of Rouen in Normandy, according to the news agency.
The assailants got in through the back door of the church and took the priest, two nuns and two parishioners hostage during morning mass.
Police at the scene in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray
French media reported shots being fired as police confirmed both captors had been "neutralised".
Le Figaro is reporting several others have been injured during the attack.
It says one of the hostages managed to escape during the hours-long ordeal and raised the alarm.
Emergency services were quickly on the scene and negotiators summoned to the scene.
TV footage of the scene shows one person being stretchered into an awaiting ambulance, surrounded by police cars and fire engines.
A police cordon has been set up and several police officers - some in plain clothes - can be seen talking on mobile phones.
The identities of the attackers and their motive is unknown.
Anti-terror investigators has been appointed to take charge of the investigation.
French President Francois Hollande and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve are on their way to the scene - which comes just days after the Bastille Day massacre in Nice which left 84 people dead.
France has been under a state of emergency since the terror attacks in Paris in November last year.
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