ICC Note: A woman was fatally stabbed in southwestern France after a masked man carried out an attack on a home that houses retired missionaries. According to the latest reports, authorities are currently searching for the attacker. Although it is not yet clear if the attack was religiously motivated, this attack has been one of several recent attacks that targeted Christian communities, including the murder of French priest Jacques Hamel.

By Mark Woods

11/25/2016 France (Christian Today) – Police are searching for an armed man after finding a dead woman in a retirement home where some 60 missionaries are living in southwestern France, sources close to the matter said on Friday.

According to one source, a caretaker contacted the police after freeing herself after being bound and gagged by the suspect and escaping from the home in Montferrier-sur-Lez, about 10 km (6 miles) in the countryside north of Montpellier.

He had reportedly worn a mask and carried a knife and a sawn-off shotgun.

Police found the body of a woman who had been stabbed several times when they entered the building, the source said. A large-scale manhunt has begun including the use of a helicopter scanning the area using a giant spotlight.

“One woman, a resident was assassinated. The security forces have evacuated the residents, about 60, who are safe and sound,” a local official told Reuters.

The home houses retired missionaries that had worked in Africa, as well as a few nuns.

The attack has echoes of the murder of Catholic priest Jacques Hamel, stabbed at the altar of his church in July. However, officials are keeping an open mind about the crime.

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