Second Frenchman Is Identified in ISIS Video of Peter Kassig

PARIS - A second French citizen is among a group of Islamic State militants seen in a gruesome video showing a beheaded American aid worker, President François Hollande of France said on Wednesday.

Mr. Hollande, in Canberra, Australia, for a meeting of the Group of 20, said that it was not yet clear what function the two men performed for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

'All we can say for now is that there are two French people who have been identified,' Mr. Hollande said, according to news3blog.blogspot.com. He said that he was concerned that French citizens of various backgrounds were being 'brainwashed' into joining the ranks of militants in Iraq and Syria.

Earlier this week, Maxime Hauchard, a 22-year-old from Normandy who converted to Islam at 17, was tentatively identified among a group of executioners seen in a video clip showing Peter Kassig, an American aid worker and former Army Ranger, after his apparent beheading.

On Wednesday, Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office, said there was strong evidence to suggest that Michaël Dos Santos, 22, from a working class suburb southeast of Paris, was among the militants who appeared unmasked in the video. The video also showed a masked executioner with a British accent who has been nicknamed 'Jihadi John' in the British news media.

The French authorities say they believe that Mr. Dos Santos recently left France for Syria to join Islamic State militants.

France is struggling to deal with an estimated 1,132 citizens who have left or who plan to join the ranks of jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq. The government is so concerned about the consequences of young people becoming radicalized and returning to France that it recently approved legislation to prevent those suspected of being jihadists from leaving the country.

Both young Frenchmen appear to fit a pattern of young men from non-Muslim backgrounds who turned to radical Islam for self-affirmation.

Graphic: Areas Under ISIS Control

According to the radio station France Info, Mr. Dos Santos, who the French media reported had surprised friends by abruptly converting to Islam, appears to have been known by French intelligence services to be in Syria and had posted photographs of himself on his Twitter account, dressed in combat gear. The account has since been deleted. France Info said his mother had helped identify him to the authorities.

Prosecutors said Mr. Hauchard left France for Syria in August 2012 under the pretext of wanting to do humanitarian work. He initially came under the scrutiny of French law enforcement officials after he became involved in extremist groups and was seen on websites promoting jihad.

Earlier this year, Mr. Hauchard described in a Skype interview with the television channel BFMTV how he had joined the Islamic State, which 'established the laws of Allah on earth,' after watching videos on the Internet. He said he had traveled to Syria on his own.

Mr. Hollande said he was deeply concerned about the radicalization of French-born jihadis. 'They could be from any background, from any ethnic origin - but they can easily be brainwashed into becoming converts, and this is a very important matter,' he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse. 'We must be vigilant, and we must be strong.'

The Islamic State has said that its beheadings of Western hostages are revenge for military actions against the militant group. France has joined the United States-led airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and is fighting a propaganda battle against the group, which claims to represent a caliphate, a state governed by strict Islamic principles.