Second French church attacker was on security watch list

Paris, July 28 (IANS) The second suspect in the church attack in Normandy, France, on Tuesday was known to the security services and was on a watch list as a potential security threat since June, local media reported on Thursday.

The anti-terrorism investigators identified the second attacker as Abdel-Malik Nabil Petitjean, born in Saint-Die-des-Vosges, northeastern France, Xinhua news agency reported.

Like the other attacker, Adel Kermiche, had been on a watch list since after he tried to enter Syria from Turkey.

Petitjean and Kermiche seized six hostages in a church in France's Normandy, before slitting the throat of an 84-year-old priest and seriously wounding another hostage. They were shot dead by police.

The two teenagers appeared in a video broadcast by Amaq, official news agency linked to Islamic State terrorist group pledging allegiance to them.