Grand Mufti condemns French slaying

Australia's Grand Mufti has denounced the murder of a French priest by Islamic State supporters.

Father Jacques Hamel, 85, had his throat slit by assailants who took worshippers hostage in the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church, in Normandy, on Tuesday.

"We should not allow the brutality of ISIS to cause us to turn against each other nor create disunity. This is exactly what they aim to achieve," Ibrahim Abu Mohammed said in a statement on Wednesday.