French authorities name second priest attacker

French prosecutors have identified the second man involved in the killing of a priest in a church in Normandy as Abdel Malik Petitjean, 19, French media reported.

The other attacker had earlier been named as Adel Kermiche, also 19.

The pair were shot dead by police outside the church where had killed Fr Jacques Hamel, 86, and taken hostages in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on Tuesday,

So-called Islamic State released a video of what it says are the two men pledging allegiance to the group.

The teenage jihadis appear in a video pledging their allegiance to Islamic State before the attack.

The minute-long film shows one of the men speaking in Arabic, while the other nods in agreement. At the end both pray out loud. Abdel Malik Petitjean is seen displaying a piece of paper on which the Isis flag is printed.

French authorities have come under intense pressure to explain how they let Kermiche loose after judges believed his claims that he regretted trying to join Islamic State and was not an extremist.

Kermiche had twice attempted to reach Syria to join Isis when he appeared before an investigating judge earlier this year, it emerged on Wednesday. Despite repeat warnings from the state prosecutor that there was a major risk he would reoffend if freed from prison, he was given parole after convincing judges he wanted a new start “to see my friends, to get married”.

He was ordered to wear an electronic tag to monitor his movements, but Kermiche, 19, used his freedom to murder the Catholic priest on Tuesday, forcing the elderly cleric to his knees before slitting his throat.

The teenager and his accomplice took five others hostage, including three nuns and two worshippers, one of whom, an 86-year-old parishioner, they left for dead after trying to cut his throat. The attackers were shot by police as they walked out of the church.

It was the second major terrorist attack in France in less than two weeks after an Islamic State follower ploughed a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on 14 July in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring hundreds more.