The man and child in the Daesh (ISIS) execution video released last Tuesday were identified to be French citizens, a French official told the AP.
The government is also investigating whether the man had any ties to an extremist attack on paratroopers and a Jewish school in southern France three years ago.
The two militants appeared in a Daesh propaganda video, in which the young boy fatally shoots an Arab man accused of spying for Israel. It was the first time the extremist group had shown to be using a child soldier to kill its victims.
