France names second church attacker

AFP, PARIS: French prosecutors on Thursday identified the second jihadist involved in the brutal killing of an elderly priest, as calls mounted for the prime minister and interior minister to resign after the latest terror attack.
The prosecutor’s office named the assailant as 19-year-old Abdel Malik Petitjean, who was listed in June on France’s “Fiche S” of people posing a potential threat to national security after trying to reach Syria from Turkey.
Petitjean, whose face was disfigured after being shot dead by police, had been harder to identify than his accomplice Adel Kermiche, also 19, and investigators confirmed his identity after a DNA match with his mother.
The two jihadists were shown pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in a video made before they stormed a church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Tuesday and slit the 86-year-old priest’s throat at the altar.
The attack came as the government was already facing a firestorm of criticism over alleged security failings after the Bastille Day truck massacre that left 84 people dead two weeks ago.
A brief show of political unity at a mass attended by different faiths in Paris Wednesday quickly dissolved as Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve faced fresh calls to resign.
“If the government is not responsible for the wave of terrorism, it is guilty of not having done everything to stop it,” Laurent Wauqiez, the deputy leader of the right-wing Republicans party, said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper. “Manuel Valls and Bernard Cazeneuve must go because they refuse to take vital measures to fight Islamism. We need a new government, determined to act.”
The French government has said that everything possible is being done to protect citizens, while warning that more terror attacks are inevitable, after three major strikes and several smaller attacks in the past 18 months.
President Francois Hollande confirmed Thursday the creation of a National Guard to be made up of reserve forces, after the government previously urged “patriots” to sign up to become reservists.
Hollande said parliamentary consultations on the formation of the force would take place in September “so that this force can be created as fast as possible to protect the French”.

France names second church attacker

AFP, PARIS: French prosecutors on Thursday identified the second jihadist involved in the brutal killing of an elderly priest, as calls mounted for the prime minister and interior minister to resign after the latest terror attack. The prosecutors office named the assailant as 19-year-old Abdel Malik Petitjean, who was listed in June on Frances Fiche S of people posing a potential threat to national security after trying to reach Syria from Turkey. Petitjean, whose face was disfigured after being shot dead by police, had been harder to identify than his accomplice Adel Kermiche, also 19, and investigators confirmed his identity after a DNA match with his mother. The two jihadists were shown pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in a video made before they stormed a church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Tuesday and slit the 86-year-old priests throat at the altar. The attack came as the government was already facing a firestorm of criticism over alleged security failings after the Bastille Day truck massacre that left 84 people dead two weeks ago. A brief show of political unity at a mass attended by different faiths in Paris Wednesday quickly dissolved as Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve faced fresh calls to resign. If the government is not responsible for the wave of terrorism, it is guilty of not having done everything to stop it, Laurent Wauqiez, the deputy leader of the right-wing Republicans party, said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper. Manuel Valls and Bernard Cazeneuve must go because they refuse to take vital measures to fight Islamism. We need a new government, determined to act. The French government has said that everything possible is being done to protect citizens, while warning that more terror attacks are inevitable, after three major strikes and several smaller attacks in the past 18 months. President Francois Hollande confirmed Thursday the creation of a National Guard to be made up of reserve forces, after the government previously urged patriots to sign up to become reservists. Hollande said parliamentary consultations on the formation of the force would take place in September so that this force can be created as fast as possible to protect the French.