FRENCH authorities believe a second French militant appears on a beheading video released by Islamic State (IS) at the weekend.
Officials said on Monday one of the men shown herding prisoners to their execution was Maxime Hauchard, a French Muslim convert who left for Syria in 2013.
Now, according to government spokesman Stephane Le Foll, further analysis suggests another French citizen was also in the video.
He said: "It seems there is a second Frenchman. We are checking his identity."
The Paris prosecutors' office, which is leading the investigation, said there were "strong indications" the second man was a 22-year-old from the city.
Thousands of Western volunteers have joined IS, which is waging a bloody war in both Syria and Iraq. More than 1,130 French citizens are thought to be involved in jihadi cells linked to the two countries. 376 of them are in the region.
According to the prosecutor's office, the second French suspect was also a Muslim convert, who travelled to Syria in August 2013 and was known to intelligence services.
The 15-minute video posted online shows the decapitations of 18 men who IS said were pilots and officers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as the severed head of US aid worker Peter Kassig.
France is part of a coalition carrying out air strikes on IS, and earlier this year toughened anti-terrorism laws to stop citizens going to Syria and prevent young French Muslims becoming radicalised.
Sebastien Pietrasanta, a politician involved in finalising the new anti-terrorism legislation, said the cases "illustrate the diversity of the profile and self-radicalisation on the internet".
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