ROME — A Moroccan illegal immigrant attacked Christians in two Spanish churches with a machete Wednesday, killing one and wounding at least four more.
Around 7:00pm, the 26-year-old assailant entered San Isidro church in Algeciras, southern Spain, where he attempted to force the faithful present to convert to Islam and then attacked the parish priest with his machete, gravely wounding him in the neck.
During the course of the attack, the Islamist reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar” and “Death to Christians.”
One eyewitness, Jesús Torres, said he heard the shouting and went running to the church where he found Father Antonio Rodríguez, the parish priest, “lying face down on the ground with his head bleeding.”
Neighbours place candles and flowers as tokens of grief in the Plaza Alta, Algeciras, where the lifeless body of a sacristan fell after the attack in his church on January 26, 2023 in Algeciras, Spain. The attack of a 25-year-old Moroccan citizen in the church of Nuestra Señora de La Palma and in the church of San Isidro de Algeciras has left pain and consternation among its neighbors. (Nono Rico via Getty Images)
Following the first aggression, the jihadist entered a second nearby church, Nuestra Señora de la Palma, as Mass was being celebrated.
On entering, the man began destroying various sacred objects with his machete and proceeded to climb onto the altar, where he was confronted by the sacristan, Diego Valencia, who tried to stop him.
The aggressor responded by stabbing Valencia in the abdomen. When Valencia tried to flee and left the church, the attacker followed him and finished him off with a machete blow to the head.
According to Spain’s Ministry of the Interior, shortly after the assault police disarmed and apprehended the assailant and he is currently in police custody.
Investigators have identified the man as “Yassin K” and are treating the incident as terror-related. They are also trying to determine whether the man was acting alone or as part of an Islamic terror organization.
A photographer records the memorials placed in the Plaza Alta, Algeciras, where a sacristan fell after the attack in his church on January 26, 2023 in Algeciras Cadiz, Spain. (Nono Rico via Getty Images)
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sent his “deepest condolences” to the family of the sacristan who died in this “terrible attack.”
For its part, the local Muslim community in Algeciras denounced the incident as a “brutal and vicious attack.”
The mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce, has blamed the Ministry of the Interior for failing to deport the man prior to the attack, since he was known to be in Spain illegally but was not expelled from the country because of “administrative red tape.”
Landaluce has insisted on the need to streamline the bureaucracy “to be more effective.”