An Orthodox priest was shot and injured on Saturday at a church in the French city of Lyon by an assailant who then fled, a police source said.

The priest was fired on twice at around 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) as he was closing the church, and was being treated on site for life-threatening injuries, the source said.

The incident came two days after a man shouting "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a church in Nice, and two weeks after a schoolteacher 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.

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.

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