SPAIN: “Allahu Akbar” shouting illegal alien Muslim invader kills priest, injures 4 others in machete attack against 2 Catholic churches

Authorities are investigating the deadly attack as a possible act of Islamic terrorism. According to witnesses, the Muslim attacker, an illegal alien from Morocco was reportedly yelling “Allahu Akbar” and “Death to Christians” during the rampage.

EL PAIS Spanish police have arrested a machete-wielding man who walked into two Catholic churches in the southern city of Algeciras on Wednesday evening, killing one person and injuring at least four more. The suspect is a 25-year-old Moroccan illegal alien identified as Yasine Kanjaa by sources familiar with the investigation. Spain’s high court, the Audiencia Nacional, is investigating the matter as a possible act of Islamic terrorism.

Shortly after 6.30pm the suspect entered the Church of San Isidro, in the center of this port city near the southern tip of Spain, and “began to argue with the parishioners, telling them that they should follow the Islamic religion.” He left but returned less than an hour later, around 7.20pm, armed with a machete that he used to attack and seriously injure the priest, according to these same sources.

The assailant then walked over to the Church of La Palma, located just 200 meters from the first temple, as a Mass service was ending. He began to throw religious images, crucifixes and candles on the floor and climbed up on the altar. The sexton – the religious officer in charge of the sacristy and other church objects – asked him to leave the premises, but the assailant refused and began threatening two women.

The sexton again told him to leave, and the assailant chased him out of the church and to a public square called Plaza Alta, in the city center, where he killed him with the machete, according to eyewitnesses. Subsequently, the suspect “tried to hide in another nearby chapel, where he was subdued by local police officers,” according to sources in the investigation.

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.”

So far in 2023, Spanish security forces have arrested four suspected Islamic jihadists. Last year there were 46 arrests of individuals with ties to Islamic terrorist groups, while seven more were arrested in other countries, mainly Morocco. The largest operation took place in October in cooperation with Moroccan authorities, and netted 13 suspects. Since 2020, 131 people have been arrested for jihadist activities, according to official statistics provided by the Ministry of the Interior.