Middle-school students from the French city of Toulouse say that they recognized their classmate in a gruesome video of a child executing an Arab Israeli man that was released by the Islamic State earlier this week, sources said.
"Concerning the formal identification of this person, I cannot tell you anything. Children from Vauquelin College have recognized one of their classmates, but we must remain cautious," Jacques Caillaut, the schools inspector in the Haute-Garonne district in southern France, told reporters.
French officials have, meanwhile, opened a formal investigation into the video, which features a boy, who appears to be no more than 12, shooting a hostage in the forehead using a pistol.