The development comes two days after three people were stabbed to death in the Notre-Dame basilica in the city of Nice and two weeks after an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin beheaded a schoolteacher in a Paris suburb.

French police are looking for an attacker who shot an Orthodox priest in the city of Lyon, local media says. According to reports, the priest is seriously injured. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has urged residents of Lyon to avoid the area around Jean-Macé, where the shooting occurred. 

Local media says the attack occurred when the priest was closing the church. The perpetrator, armed with a sawed-off shotgun, injured the priest and fled the scene. The priest is reportedly in a serious condition.