Kermiche Finally Buried After Muslim Leaders Shunned Priest Killer

One of the jihadists who killed a priest inside a church near the French city of Rouen has finally been buried.

But Adel Kermiche was buried more than 60 miles away in an area on the outskirts of Paris after local Muslim leaders refused to get involved.

Kermiche, 19, and his accomplice, Abdelmalik Petitjean, were shot dead by police after storming a service in July in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray and holding four hostages.

Adel Kermiche and Abdelmalik Petitjean pledged allegiance to IS

During the siege, they slit the throat of 84-year-old priest Jacques Hamel and seriously injured another hostage.

They had both pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Kermiche was buried on Friday evening in a multi-faith cemetery in the Puiseux-Pontoise suburb, northwest of Paris, after Muslim leaders near Rouen had refused to grant Kermiche a Muslim burial.

A photo displayed at the funeral of Fr Jacques Hamel

An official said: "All we did was strictly apply the law. The family owns a crypt in the cemetery and the law guarantees the right to be buried regardless of the circumstances surrounding the person's death."

Muslim community leaders said they did not want to "taint" Islam by being associated with Kermiche.

The burial of the other attacker, Petitjean, remains the subject of a dispute.

The mayors of the two areas where he was born and where he lived are refusing to allow his funeral to take place on their turf.

Kermiche took four hostages during the attack on the church

France has faced a conundrum on where to bury jihadists responsible for a string of attacks in recent months.

There are fears that the graves of jihadists could become sites of pilgrimage for other extremists.