Knifeman kills priest, injures four in attack at Polish abbey

WARSAW, Sept 24 — A Polish priest died on Thursday and four other ​people were injured when a Ukrainian man armed with a knife attacked clergy and worshippers at a ‌Benedictine abbey in southern Poland, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

The attack happened ⁠at a Benedictine Sisters monastery ​on the grounds of ⁠the abbey in Jaroslaw, local media earlier reported.

"We know ‌that the act was ‌committed by a 31-year-old Ukrainian national who had ⁠entered Poland from Germany earlier ⁠today," said Bozena Harasz-Woloszyn from the District Prosecutor's Office in Przemysl.

Harasz-Woloszyn said the attacker used a knife he took from a kitchen on the premises to attack four men and one woman, including one priest who ‌was in a confessional.

"Three of the ​victims are clergy members and two are laypeople; one person has died," she said. "Two people are in a critical, life-threatening condition."

The motives behind the attack were not immediately clear. Police said they were on the scene investigating the incident.

"We are aware that Father Stanislaw has passed ​away and Father Marek is in serious condition; there are ‌other casualties, but ‌we ⁠do not have further details," Sister Barbara Dendor told state broadcaster TVP Info.

"When I arrived, there was total panic," she said.

The mayor of Jaroslaw, Marcin Nazarewicz, told a press ‌conference that a period ​of mourning was being declared ‌until the end of ⁠the week.

(Reporting ​by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Aidan Lewis and ​Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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