MOSCOW (Sputnik) — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls blamed on Friday the country's security services for insufficient surveillance over Adel Kermiche, one of the attackers that took several people hostage and killed a priest in a church in the Normandy region.
"It was a failure which should be acknowledged… It should make the officials take a different approach, on a case-by-case basis," Valls said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper.
Kermiche was extradited from Turkey to France over alleged links to terrorist groups active in Syria, however he was later released with electronic surveillance bracelet.
On Tuesday, Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean took five people hostage at the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church in Normandy, murdering the local priest Father Jacques Hamel. The Islamic State jihadist group, outlawed in many countries including Russia, claimed responsibility for the attack.
