A notorious terrorist recruiter linked to a string of Isil-inspired attacks in France has been killed in an American drone strike in Iraq, French police sources said on Friday.

The report came as French police thwarted an “imminent” suicide attack, possibly on a Paris tourist site, with the arrests of four suspected Isil recruits, including a 16-year-old girl, who were manufacturing explosives.

Rachid Kassim is believed to have been killed on Wednesday near Mosul, an Isil stronghold in northern Iraq. The 29-year-old Frenchman allegedly masterminded the murders last year of a French police couple and that of an elderly priest whose throat was slit in a Normandy church. He was also linked to the attacks at Brussels Airport and the city's subway in March which left 32 dead.

French sources said the information had come from the US military and French intelligence was checking that it was Kassim who died, according to BFM television.

Kassim was a leading online Isil recruiter who was also linked to a failed attempt to set off explosives near Notre-Dame cathedral in the heart of Paris.

After the Nice lorry attack last July, video footage appeared online showing Kassim beheading captives. He directly threatened President François Hollande and warned that Isil was planning more attacks in France.