Orthodox priest wounded in shooting in Lyon, attacker on the run, French police say

An attacker armed with a sawn-off shotgun on Saturday wounded an Orthodox priest in a shooting in the French city of Lyon before fleeing, said a police source. 

The priest, who has Greek nationality, was closing his church at around 4pm local time (3pm GMT) when he was shot twice, and was being treated on-site for life-threatening injuries, said the source, who asked not to be named.

The incident came two days after a man shouting “Allahu Akbar!” (God is Greatest) killed three other people in a church in Nice, and two weeks after a school teacher in a Paris suburb was beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen, apparently incensed by the teacher showing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in class.

French ministers had warned that other Islamist militant attacks could take place. President Emmanuel Macron has deployed thousands of soldiers to protect sites such as places of worship and schools.