French Students Recognize ISIL Child Executioner as Their former Classmate

French Students Recognize ISIL Child Executioner as Their former Classmate. (SP).

French students have reportedly recognized their classmate who is thought to have killed an Arab Israeli man in a video released by the Islamic State earlier this week.

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.

According to the inspector, students at the Vauquelin secondary school would have known the boy when he was still in primary school in Toulouse.

"There is a child who has not been enrolled at the Vergers (primary) school since March 14, 2014, but I do not have any other details," Caillaut said.

Sources familiar with the case have said the boy may be 31-year-old Essid's stepson.

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.