Adel Kermiche, 19, was one of two attackers who stormed a Catholic church in the northern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during morning mass, slitting the throat of an 86-year-old priest and leaving a worshipper with serious injuries, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.
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An undated photo shows French priest, Father Jacques Hamel of the parish of Saint-Etienne.
A nun who escaped the attack said the assailants forced the priest to kneel before filming the murder.
The murder of a priest and the wounding of one of his parishioners in Normandy was an act of terrorism carried out by two followers of Islamic State, the French president, François Hollande, has said.
ISIS also claimed responsibility for the truck attack in Nice on July 14, which killed 84 people, as well as the Charlie Hebdo and November attacks in Paris past year.
The IS-linked Amaq news agency said the perpetrators were “soldiers of the Islamic State who carried out the attack in response to calls to target countries of the Crusader coalition”. “It’s horrific”, said Sister Danielle.
Since January 2015, IS-inspired attackers have killed at least 235 people in France, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country.
As bomb squad officers searched the church for possible booby-traps, one member of the congregation of four – who included two nuns – was rushed to hospital “between life and death” suffering from serious injuries.
French prosecutors said one person had been detained in connection with the assault.
Neil Basu, the UK’s Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner, said: “There is no specific intelligence relating to attacks against the Christian community in the UK”.
The president called it a “dreadful terrorist attack” and told reporters the attackers had pledge allegiance to IS.
Mr Hollande said the threat from Islamic militants had never been so great in France and Europe. Hollande said the terrorists will stop at nothing, adding, “We must rage war against Daesh (ISIS)”.
“I cry out to God … and I invite all non-believers to unite in this cry”, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. “You have seen us [in Syria] chopping off the heads of those carrying the cross [and now] we will fight you altogether”, a masked fighter with a North American accent stated in gruesome video featuring waves of blood flowing northwards into the Mediterranean. One of the attackers slit his throat. “Of course we have to respect the rule of law, because we are a democracy”. “What these terrorists want to do is to divide us”, he stated.
“The threat remains very high”, he said.
The attack drew statements of condemnation from across French society.
A special French police unit confronted the attackers as they left the church, shooting them dead, and freeing three hostages, physically unharmed.
Right-wing politician Marine Le Pen Tweeted the modus operandi led her to “obviously fear another attack by Islamist terrorists”. “We will stand together”, Prime Minister Manuel Valls wrote on Twitter.
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Pope Francis voiced his “pain and horror” at the “barbaric killing” of the priest.
