Muslims join Christians in mourning priest’s murder

PARIS: Christian groups will hold vigils with Muslims for a French priest murdered by militants on Saturday, as authorities charged a man in connection with the brutal church attack that rocked the nation.

In a bid to forge togetherness between the communities, a regional Muslim council has planned a “brotherhood march” in the southeastern city of Lyon.

A church in Bordeaux said it would hold a non-denominational vigil for the 85-year-old Jacques Hamel, who had his throat slit by Daesh-inspired teenaged attackers. And prayers were also planned at the Saint-Etienne church where the killing took place as Hamel was celebrating mass on Tuesday.

A shellshocked France is still coming to terms with the murder of a priest at his altar that has sparked fears of tensions between religions in the secular nation.

Meanwhile, police were still trying to piece together links to the two 19-year-olds who carried out the attack, Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, both of whom were on intelligence services’ radar and had tried to go to Syria.

On Friday, authorities filed charges against a 19-year-old man accused of “criminal conspiracy with terrorists” after police discovered a mobile phone video of one of the assailants at his home. Police were still questioning Petitjean’s cousin and a Syrian refugee, after a photocopy of his passport found at Kermiche’s house.

A teenager falsely detained following the gruesome killing of an 85-year-old priest by a pair of attackers in northwest France was released on Saturday, a French official said.