This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6708
November 20, 2014
Islamic State: Second Frenchman in killing video named
France has named a second Frenchman in a video showing the killing of Syrian prisoners by Islamic State (IS) militants as Mickael Dos Santos, 22.
The Muslim convert comes from an eastern Paris suburb. The other French militant was named as Maxime Hauchard, a convert from Normandy.
In the same video, the severed head of US hostage Abdul-Rahman Kassig was displayed for the camera.
About 1,000 French jihadists are thought to have gone to Syria and Iraq.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after a security meeting in Beauvais, north of Paris, that "close to 50" French citizens had died in Syria.
"Sadly, we are not surprised to learn that French citizens or residents of France are found at the heart of these cells and taking part in this barbarity," he added.
Meanwhile, new IS video has appeared which shows a small group of gunmen burning what appear to be French passports before three of them make appeals to French Muslims to abandon France and join IS, or stay there and attack "enemies of Allah".
It is unclear where the video was filmed but it was released by al-Hayat, the media arm of IS.
In other developments:
Confirmation of the second French militant's identity came from the Paris prosecutor's office after unofficial reports in France's media.
France 2 (in French) quoted a friend of the militant who recalled how he had surprised his family when he suddenly converted to Islam.
Of Portuguese origin, he was born in the French town of Champigny-sur-Marne and is believed to have left for Syria in the autumn of 2013.
French intelligence became aware of him after he published an online video in October calling for "all brothers living in France" to "kill any civilian" in retaliation for air strikes carried out by France against IS in Iraq.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30112006
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6708