Wearing a camouflage jacket and speaking in broken Arabic, Kermiche recites: “We pledge allegiance and obedience to Emir of the faithful Abu Bakr al-Baghdady in hardship and in ease”.
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They identify themselves as Abu Jaleel al-Hanafi, left, and Ibn Omar, right, sitting next to the logo of the Islamic State group.
A somber quiet surrounded Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of the medieval city of Rouen composed of genteel residential neighborhoods and working-class quarters with massive apartment blocks.
The attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray sent shock waves through a nation already reeling from the murder of 84 people in Nice on July 14, when a Tunisian national drove a lorry into crowds enjoying Bastille Day fireworks, as well as earlier atrocities directed at rock fans and sports crowds and the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. One of the killers wore a fake explosive belt, and the other carried a kitchen timer and fake bomb, he said.
Inter-faith dialogue and unity among various churches across Europe is needed to overcome Islamophobia that is likely to rise after an attack on a church in the French region of Normandy, Erin Green, spokeswoman for Conference of European Churches (CEC), Europe’s Christian churches union, told Sputnik Wednesday.
The source said the delay in formally identifying Abdel Malik P.as the second attacker occurred because DNA tests were being carried out.
Churches in areas where there is a threat of radical jihadism in the United Kingdom should consider having their own guards as part of tighter security measures following the terrorist attack on a French priest, according to a former top intelligence adviser to the government.
Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said 4,000 members of the Sentinel military force will patrol Paris, while 6,000 will patrol in the provinces. They were being bolstered by tens of thousands of police and reservists.
The Rev. Alexandre Joly, who knew the slain priest, said “If we are afraid, they have won”.
“We must lead this war with all our means”, he said, adding that he was calling a meeting on Wednesday of representatives of all religions.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has warned that the goal of the attack, claimed by Islamic State jihadists, was to “set the French people against each other, attack religion in order to start a war of religions”. Religions don’t want war.
He added that a minor, believed to be a 16-year-old younger brother of somebody wanted by police for trying to go to Syria or Iraq in 2015, had been detained in connection with the investigation. Kermiche had told him and other youth about his efforts to get to Syria and “he was saying we should go there and fight for our brothers”.
“We were saying that is not good and he was replying that France is the land of unbelievers”, Redwan said.
“We deeply desire that our places of worship are the subject of greater (security) focus, a sustained focus”, said French Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur, after meeting with President Francois Hollande. “Let us together be the last to cry”.
The two men pose with an Islamist flag often associated with Islamic extremist groups including ISIS, but the flag’s colors apparently have been inverted, turning the usually black flag white.
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The 19-year-old was forced to wear an electronic monitoring tag after he traveled overseas to try to fight in Syria.
