This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-30112006
The article has changed 13 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 2 | Version 3 |
---|---|
Islamic State: Second French jihadist seen in video | Islamic State: Second French jihadist seen in video |
(35 minutes later) | |
France has confirmed that a second Frenchman features in a video showing the beheading of Syrian prisoners, and the body of a US hostage killed by Islamic State (IS). | |
French media quote unnamed official sources as saying he is a 22-year-old from an eastern suburb of Paris. | French media quote unnamed official sources as saying he is a 22-year-old from an eastern suburb of Paris. |
Earlier, the government named Maxime Hauchard, from Normandy, as a militant in the video released at the weekend. | Earlier, the government named Maxime Hauchard, from Normandy, as a militant in the video released at the weekend. |
About 1,000 French jihadists are thought to have gone to Syria and Iraq. | About 1,000 French jihadists are thought to have gone to Syria and Iraq. |
Bare heads | Bare heads |
On a visit to Australia, French President Francois Hollande told reporters in Canberra that "there were two French people" in the video. | |
"One has been categorically identified and the other one is in the process of being identified," he said. | "One has been categorically identified and the other one is in the process of being identified," he said. |
Mr Hollande said officials had not established the "exact role" of the two militants. | |
He called for families to be given more information about the danger of jihadist websites and urged families to be "vigilant" in stopping young people from being recruited by extremists. | |
In the latest IS video - unlike previous ones showing beheadings - several militants appear with their heads uncovered. | |
Earlier this week, Mr Hauchard was named by a French prosecutor as one of those leading Syrian prisoners to their execution. | |
The video also shows the severed head of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, a US aid worker who was kidnapped in Syria last year. | The video also shows the severed head of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, a US aid worker who was kidnapped in Syria last year. |
Foreign fighters | |
Concerns about the involvement of French citizens in the conflict were heightened after a gun attack earlier this year on a Jewish museum in Brussels. | Concerns about the involvement of French citizens in the conflict were heightened after a gun attack earlier this year on a Jewish museum in Brussels. |
The attack, in which four people were killed, was carried out by 29-year-old Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman who had fought as a jihadist in Syria. | |
France has the largest Muslim community in western Europe outside Russia, and is thought to provide the biggest contingent of Western jihadists in Syria and Iraq. | |
More than a hundred French citizens fighting in the Middle East have already returned to France, with the vast majority now facing charges under terrorism legislation, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris reports. | |
Earlier this month, France convicted its first such returnee with a jail term of seven years, our correspondent adds. | |
The government has also given police new powers to confiscate passports, to prevent people travelling abroad to join militants. |