Two men arrested in connection with French priest's murder by 'Isis' terrorists

One man is the cousin of one of the 19-year-old attackers who killed 86-year-old Father Jacques Hamel

86-year-old Father Jacques Hamel (REUTERS)

Two men have been placed under formal investigation in connection with the killing of an elderly priest in a church in France, including a cousin of one of the attackers.

Adel Kermiche, 19, along with Abdel Malik Petitjean, also 19, took six people hostage at a church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen in Normandy, before slitting the throat of its 86-year-old priest, Father Jacques Hamel, during a morning mass at around 10am local time on Tuesday.

Both Kermiche and Petitjean were later shot dead by police.

Following the attack, Isis claimed responsibility calling the pair of attackers “soldiers of the Islamic State”. Isis’ Amaq propaganda agency later released video footage of the French attackers pledging allegiance to the terror group.

Farid K, 30, a cousin of Petitjean, has been arrested on suspicion of terrorist association, the BBC reports.

A 20-year-old man, named as Jean-Philippe Steven J, is under formal investigation for attempting to travel with Petitjean to Syria in June.

The two men were arrested on Sunday and are being held in custody, the Paris prosecutor’s office has reportedly said.

Muslims in France and Italy flocked to Mass on Sunday in a gesture of interfaith solidarity following the attack.

French television broadcast scenes of interfaith solidarity across France and there were similar scenes in Italy.

France and Italy are both increasing their supervision of mosques after Tuesday's attack and the 14 July atrocity in Nice, when a Tunisian man killed 84 people and injured 300 more when he ploughed a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day.

The French government has come under increasing criticism for failing to prevent atrocities.

Security services were tipped off that Petitjean was planning an attack but police were reportedly unable to identify him from photos and video footage. He was already on country’s “fiche S” terror watchlist for attempting to travel to Syria in June.

Kermiche was also known to security services and was wearing an electronic surveillance tag while on bail as he awaited trial for membership of a terror organisation at the time.