France had been hunting second church attacker after tipoff

(Agencies) Updated: 2016-07-29 09:05

HOLLANDE UNDER PRESSURE

France had been hunting second church attacker after tipoff

This still image taken from video shows the two men, Abdel-Malik Nabil Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, behind the church attack in Normandy in this video released July 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Tuesday's attack came less than two weeks after another suspected Islamist drove a truck into a Bastille Day crowd, killing 84 people.

Opposition politicians have responded to the attacks with strong criticism of the government's security record, unlike last year, when they made a show of unity after gunmen and bombers killed 130 people at Paris entertainment venues in November and attacked a satirical newspaper in January.

Hollande's predecessor and potential opponent in a presidential election next year, Nicolas Sarkozy, has said the government must take stronger steps to track known Islamistsympathisers.

He has called for the detention or electronic tagging of all suspected Islamist militants, even if they have committed no offence.

Kermiche's tag did not send an alarm because the attack took place during the four hour period when he was allowed out.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve rejected Sarkozy'sproposal, saying that to jail them would be unconstitutional,and also counterproductive as many people did not know they werebeing watched.

Since the two most recent attacks the government has said that summer festivals that do not meet tight security standards are to be cancelled.

On Thursday, local authorities banned a procession in the city of Nice that was to have commemorated those who died there on July 14.

Since that Bastille Day killing, there has been a spate of attacks in Germany too, creating greater and wider alarm around Western Europe.

In Marseille, three men were put under investigation on Thursday after shouting 'Alluha Akbar' (God is great in Arabic) as they drove a boat repeatedly at the coast.

In Corsica, a dissident branch of the nationalist FLNC threatened reprisals against Islamic State and called on Muslimsliving on the Mediterranean island to demonstrate at their sidesagainst radical Islam.

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