Police in Spain raid home of suspect in church machete attacks

Police in Spain on Thursday raided the home of a man who is suspected of carrying out machete attacks at two churches that left one person dead and a priest seriously injured.

Officers searched the as-yet unnamed suspect's home to "determine the nature, terrorist or otherwise," of the Wednesday night attacks in the city of Algeciras, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.

The detained man had no prior criminal record, and investigators do not think anyone else was involved, Grande-Marlaska said. The Interior Ministry said the suspect was still being questioned, and had been under a deportation order since June last year.

The twin attacks by a single assailant have shaken the city, located near the southern tip of Spain across from a bay from Gibraltar. Witnesses said that during the second attack, a machete-wielding man jumped on the altar of a church before chasing a victim into a city square and inflicting mortal wounds.

The Interior Ministry said the man killed in the attack was a sacristan, an individual who prepares Mass, at the Church of Nuestra Señora de La Palma, while a priest was wounded earlier at the Paris of San Isidro church.

Algeciras is a multicultural port city and the first point of arrival for many boats from North Africa, putting it at the center of Spanish debates on irregular migration. The violent acts at the churches may inflame social tensions stoked by the far right in an election year, which is vying to win more local and national offices, as well as to form governing coalitions with the center-right Popular Party.

Algeciras town hall said the slain sacristan was named Diego Valencia, and it identified the wounded priest as Antonio Rodríguez.

The parish priest for Nuestra Señora de La Palma, the Rev. Juan José Marina, told Spanish media he thinks he was the attacker's intended target.

"In the same way that he sought out the priest at San Isidro and no one else, the same thing happened here," Marina said. "If I had been here, I would be dead."

A fellow sacristan who served with Valencia at the church, Manolo González, recounted the events of his colleague's slaying. The attacker climbed on the altar, he said, and Valencia came out "and asked to know what was going on."

A man wielding a machete then confronted Valencia, who fled outside to a public square. The attacker pursued him and then inflicted mortal wounds, González said.

The Islamic Commission of Spain, a body that represents Muslims in the country, condemned an "abominable, murderous and heartless act" that took place in "a sacred space for our Catholic brothers in Algeciras."

Candles and flowers adorned the two small churches with whitewashed walls on Thursday, as residents nervously passed police vans waiting in the street. Flags were flown at half-staff in Algeciras, and a minute's silence was to be held later in the day.