By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS
A Paris prosecutor opened an investigation on Monday against two French nationals for "murder as part of an organized gang and criminal conspiracy for a terrorist group," after they appeared in an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant video that showed the beheadings of an American hostage and 18 Syrian soldiers.
The announcement came after a video was posted online on Nov. 16 showing the beheading of aid worker Peter Kassig - a native of Indiana, U.S., who was captured by ISIL in Syria in 2013 - and the 18 regime loyalist soldiers.
Kassig had previously appeared at the end of a video on Oct. 3 showing the execution of British hostage Alan Henning.
The Paris prosecutor, Francois Molins, identified the 22-year-old Maxime Hauchard, who reportedly calls himself Abu Abdullah Al Faransi - with Al Faransi meaning "The French" in Arabic - and is from a small village in Eure in the north of France.
He was reportedly recognized by his family on Sunday and is believed to have arrived in Syria in August 2013 after a stay in Mauritania.
Interviewed by private French TV channel BFM TV via Skype in July, Hauchard spoke about his allegiance to ISIL and his journey to the Syrian city of Raqqa, one of ISIL's strongholds in the country.
He is reported by French media to have converted to Islam at the age of 17.
Molins said that it is possible that another Frenchman, known by French intelligence services, appeared in the footage.
The second man, whose identity was not revealed, is "the subject of an arrest warrant" as part of a judicial inquiry opened in October 2013, Molins told a press conference.
According to German authorities, some 3,000 citizens of Western European countries, including 400 Germans, have joined ISIL -- with 1,132 of them being French nationals.
"Since the beginning of 2014, the number of French nationals leaving to fight in Syria and Iraq has increased by 82%," according to French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls has confirmed that 49 French nationals have died fighting in Syria.
www.aa.com.tr/en
