The killer who beheaded French teacher Samuel Paty for showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in his class, had contact with a Russian-speaking jihadist in Syria, AFP quoted a source as saying. 

The identity of the jihadist in Syria has not yet been established, the source told AFP.

18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov decapitated Paty on Friday while he was on his way home from the junior high school where he taught. Anzorov was shot at by the police officers and he later died of his injuries.

He was from Chechnya, a region in Russia. However, a day after Paty’s murder, a spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Paris clarified that Anzorov had no links with Russia and was living in France for the past 12 years. 

Seven people have been charged with complicity with the murder of the teacher. They include two teenagers who pointed out the history teacher.

Meanwhile, Paty on Wednesday was posthumously awarded the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest civilian honour. President Emmanuel Macron bestowed the honour to the teacher at a private ceremony in capital Paris.