Killer of French police identified as man linked with IS

Still image taken from video shows Police vehicles at the scene near where a French police commander was stabbed to death in front of his home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville, France, June 14, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - The suspect who killed a senior French police officer and his girlfriend has been identified as a 25-year-old man who has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, local media reported on Tuesday.

The man, Larossi Abballa, was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to three years in jail in 2013 for helping extremist militants to go to Pakistan, French radio RMC-Info reported, citing a police source.

He was also known to justice for acts of delinquency, media reports said.

A senior police officer and his girlfriend, a public servant of the Interior Ministry, were killed by the suspect in the west Paris suburb of Magnanville on Monday night.

An IS-linked news agency report said that the attack was carried out by an "Islamic State fighter."