Masked intruder armed with a knife and sawn-off shotgun 'kills an elderly nun by slitting her throat' as he holds 70 monks hostage at a French retirement home before fleeing anti-terror cops

Anti-terrorist police (centre) were searching for a masked gunman overnight after at least one woman, believed to be a nun, was murdered at a home for retired missionary monks (top right) in the south of France. The bloodbath unfolded at the Green Oaks care home in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, north of Montpellier, soon after 9.30pm. Shots were heard as the unidentified intruder attacked member of staff and members of an elderly religious community belonging to the Society of African Missions. Police have put up roadblocks around the area to try and detain the killer on the run and sent out search helicopters (left). One warden is said to have 'discreetly raised the alarm,' before being bound and gagged by the man, who was armed with a sawn off shotgun and a knife. A female worker, who may have been a nun, who was tied up, and then stabbed three times. Early fears that a man was also killed alongside her have not been confirmed. Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret (bottom right) has spoken to the press outside the retirement home.