Priest Killer Appears In New IS Threat Video

A video purportedly showing one of the men involved in the murder of a French priest has been released by a news agency linked to Islamic State.

The recording, made before the attack at the church in Normandy, is said by AMAQ to feature Abdel-Malik Nabir Petitjean.

He is seen addressing French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

He says: "The times have changed. You will suffer what our brothers and sisters are suffering. We are going to destroy your country."

Petitjean, 19, was formally identified as one of the men who killed Father Jacques Hamel in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray before being shot dead by police.

He and his accomplice Adel Kermiche, also 19, were previously purported to have appeared in another video pledging their allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

The emergence of the latest video comes as holidaymakers in Cannes have been told they will no longer be allowed to take large bags onto the beach, in an attempt to prevent terror attacks.

France remains in a state of emergency after 84 people were killed when a jihadist drove a lorry through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the nearby city of Nice.

Pressure on the government has intensified after it emerged that Petitjean and Kermiche were known to security officials.

Petitjean had been on a terror watch list since 29 June after Turkish officials spotted him at an airport heading to Syria.

For unknown reasons he returned to France.

On 22 July, four days before the church assault, the French anti-terror organisation Uclat issued a photo of an unnamed man - who turned out to be Petitjean - warning that the person "could be ready to participate in an attack on national territory".

Kermiche, who had also previously attempted to travel to Syria, was awaiting trial on terror charges and had been fitted with an electronic tag, despite calls from the prosecutor for him not to be released.

Opposition politicians have voiced strong criticism of the government's security record, with potential presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy calling for the detention or e-tagging of all militant Islamist militants.

Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said that public events should be cancelled "if conditions do not allow for optimal security".