France buries priest killed by militants

Rouen (France): Mourners crammed into Rouen Cathedral on Tuesday for the funeral of the Roman Catholic priest knifed to death at his church altar, as France's political leaders sought ways to defeat home-grown violence.
Father Jacques Hamel was leading morning mass in the nearby industrial town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray last Tuesday when the attackers stormed in, forced the 85-year-old to his knees and slit his throat.
Amid tight security at the thirteenth century gothic cathedral in northern France, a procession of senior clergy followed pallbearers who carried Hamel's coffin and placed it on an ornate rug before the altar.
The priest's sister, Roselyne Hamel, told the congregation how during his military service in Algeria her brother had refused an officer's rank so as not give the order to kill, and how he once emerged the sole survivor in a desert shootout.
Hamel's murder by French citizens was the first attack on a church in western Europe and came just 12 days after a Tunisian who had pledged allegiance to IS drove his truck through a crowd of Bastille Day revellers in the Riviera city of Nice, killing 84.
Militants have killed more than 200 people in France since January 2015.
Facing strong criticism from right-wing opponents over its security record, the Socialist government has warned of a long war against militants at home and abroad in places such as Iraq, Syria and Libya.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls wants to ban foreign funding for mosques and says all French imams should be trained in France. His interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said that a foundation that would enable the secular state to finance cultural centres linked to places of worship would be established by the end of the year.