A Syrian asylum seeker has been
detained in connection with Tuesday's deadly attack on a church
in the northern town of Saint-Etienne-de-Rouvray, sources close
to the investigation said Friday.
The 22-year-old was apprehended on Thursday in the
department of Allier, said judicial sources cited by BFM-TV.
He is alleged to have links to Adel Kermiche, one of the
two knife-wielding terrorists who entered a church in
Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during Mass, and took the priest,
85-year-old Jacques Hamel, and four other people hostage.
The attackers slit Hamel's throat before being killed by
security forces.
In total five people have been detained in connection with
the attack, of whom two were subsequently released.
Meanwhile French Premier Manuel Valls said on Friday the
decision to release 19-year-old Kermiche from prison earlier
this year with an electronic tag had been a "failure".
Kermiche was already known to anti-terrorism investigators
after twice being stopped trying to enter Syria.
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