One of a pair of ISIS knifemen who stormed a church in Normandy before slitting the throat of an elderly priest has been named as known terror threat Adel Kermiche.
The 19-year-old 'ISIS soldier' was being monitored with an electronic ankle tag after he was arrested for twice attempting to flee France to join the terror group in Syria.
Despite having been released early from prison, Kermiche's bail conditions allowed him to roam unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm, leaving him free to murder the priest in the attack carried out between 9am and 11am.
Kermiche and his accomplice - also known to French police - forced 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel to kneel before filming
themselves butchering him and performing a 'sermon in Arabic' at the altar of the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, according to witnesses.
Both were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building shouting 'Allahu Akbar' following the attack that also left a nun critically injured.
Sister Danielle, a nun who escaped, said: 'They told me "you Christians, you kill us". They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened. They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror.'
French President Francois Hollande, who visited the scene on Tuesday, said the country is now 'at war' with ISIS after the terror group claimed responsibility.
French authorities admitted that both Kermiche and his partner were subject to security 'S' files, meaning they were known terror suspects who should have been under surveillance.
Kermiche was living with his parents in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray with an electronic tag on his ankle, after spending time in prison in both France and Switzerland.
Parisian prosecutor Francois Molins revealed that the pair were carrying between them a fake explosives belt with a kitchen timer wrapped in tin foil, a backpack full of fake guns and three knives during the attack, and said they used nuns as human shields.
Body of one of the two knifemen
In a press conference, he said police are still seeking to identify the second attacker and raids were underway.
Describing both attackers as 'these appalling cowardly people', Mr Molins said police had tried to negotiate with them 'but couldn't get into the church because of the heavy locked door'.
He further revealed that the person who was seriously injured is no longer in a life-threatening condition.
Kermiche was known to have been a friend of Maxime Hauchard, a French jihadi who has appeared unmasked in videos showing the slaughter of captives from the USA and Syria. - Daily Mail
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