One person has been killed and several injured in an attack on a factory near Grenoble in southeast France.
The possible terrorist attack on a French factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier left one person killed and two injured, French President François Hollande has confirmed. The victim was reported to have been beheaded at the gate of the site.
According to Le Dauphiné Libéré, the attacker entered the factory, owned by US company Air Products, claiming he belonged to the Islamic State (IS) group.
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RT report:
The attack in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier near Lyon in eastern France was initially reported by local newspaper Le Dauphiné libéré. A single assailant stormed the factory compound in his car and detonated gas canisters that he had brought with him.
The attacker reportedly waived an Islamist black flag, possibly that of terrorist group Islamic State. The flag was left at the site. The headless body of a man was found near the factory. A French official later said the head was found at the entry gate of the factory and that two Islamist flags were found nearby.
According to reports, the victim was not a factory employee. Some media said the head had been left on the facility’s fence. According to Agence France Presse, a source close to the case said the decapitated head was found covered with Arabic inscription.
Police ordered the evacuation of the factory in the wake of the assault.The factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier is a French subsidiary of the US-headquartered Air Products. Among the gas and chemical products the company lists on its website are potentially dangerous substances, such as hydrogen, wielding and cutting mixtures.
A man in his 30s, who was known to intelligence services, was detained by police in connection with the attack and is being interrogated. According to French prosecutors, the case is investigated by the anti-terrorist section. Police suspect the detained suspect. His name is Yassine Sahli.They believe the goal of the attack was to set off a massive explosion at the site.The arrested suspect didn’t have a criminal record, but was identified as a possibly radicalized individual, Interior Minister Cazeneuve said, adding that the suspect had a ‘link’ to Salafist movement.
Francois Hollande called on the French not to give in to emotion and pledged to do everything to protect the people. He cut short his trip to an EU meeting in Brussels in the wake of the attack.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has arrived at the scene to oversee the response to the attack. The French prime minister has ordered tighter security on sensitive locations after the attack in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier.
Niamh Harris
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