Spain Church Attack: Suspect Reportedly Shouted 'Allah is Great' & 'Death to Christians'

One person was killed and four more were injured in the January 25 church attack in the southern Spanish city of Algeciras.

“Allah is great” and “death to Christians” were reportedly some of the last words of the perpetrator in a deadly machete attack on two churches in southern Spain yesterday.

A local media outlet cited police as saying that the suspect was identified as Yasin Kanza, a 25-year-old Moroccan national who was due to be deported from the country.

Journalists stand on the square in front of the church where a man was killed the day before in Algeciras, southern Spain, on January 26, 2023

© AFP 2023 / CRISTINA QUICLER

Unnamed sources told the outlet that Kanza was armed with a large machete and could be “a lone wolf” who staged the attack in the port city of Algeciras for jihadist purposes, something that is now being investigated.

The assailant killed Sacristan Diego Valencia of the Nuestra Senora de La Palma church after he chased the cleric out of the church and attacked him in the busy square outside on Wednesday.

Antonio Rodriguez, the priest of the parish church of San Isidro, was injured in the attack and is currently in a stable condition after being operated for serious knife wounds. Three others were also reportedly wounded as a result of the assault. Police are yet to confirm the information.

Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has meanwhile told reporters that “there were no third persons involved in what happened.”

2004 saw Spain go through the worst Islamist attack on record in Europe, with multiple bombings on Madrid's train system claiming the lives of 192 and injuring more than 1,800.