Church attacked by Islamists in northern France today was on ISIS 'hit list'
List of churches was found on suspected ISIS extremist Sid Ahmed Ghlam
Police arrested him in Paris in April last year as he allegedly planned terror
Priest was slaughtered in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during today's attack
By
Peter Allen In Paris
and
Ollie Gillman
and
Julian Robinson for MailOnline
The church
in northern France where jihadis slaughtered a priest was on an ISIS
'hit list' discovered in a separate police raid on another suspected
Islamist's hideout last year, it has emerged.
It
is believed that the building was one of a number of Catholic churches
mentioned in documents found on suspected ISIS extremist Sid Ahmed Ghlam
in Paris last April.
Ghlam, 24, was arrested last April after he called an ambulance in the French capital when he shot himself in the leg.
Investigators believe he was a terrorist planning 'imminent attacks' in France on the instructions of ISIS commanders.
Investigators
found an arsenal of weapons in Ghlam's car, which was parked nearby,
and at his student accommodation. It included Kalashnikovs, a
police-issue pistol, and a number of bullet-proof vests.
Documents
found at Ghlam's flat and on his computer and phone suggested he was in
contact with a French speaker in Syria who had ordered him to carry out
attacks on churches, including the Sacre-Couer basilica in Paris and
the one in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray which was targeted today.
Police
believe Ghlam was under the orders of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is
believed to have orchestrated the terrorist attacks in Paris in
November, which left 130 innocent people dead.
Abaaoud was killed in a police raid in Saint-Denis days after the attacks.
Ghlam is
currently in a high-security prison while waiting trial for 'murder,
attempted murder, association with criminals with a view to commit
crimes against people' and for other infractions 'connected to a
terrorist organisation'.
The
computer student, who born in Algeria, was also charged with the murder
of a 32-year-old woman, who was found in the passenger seat of her
burning car after his arrest.
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