France has launched a terrorism investigation after police found a decapitated body and a flag with Islamist inscriptions following an apparent attack on a factory belonging to a US gas company in the south-east of the country.
The incident began at about 10am (0800 GMT) when two people apparently drove a car into the factory – believed to belong to US multinational Air Products, in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier – and detonated gas canisters. The attack left one person dead and several wounded, according to police sources and French media.
Local reports said a human head was found at the site, as well as a flag bearing Islamist inscriptions. A police source told Reuters he understood this was the case.
Reuters cited one source as saying a man had been arrested, and that he was previously known to French intelligence sources.
The assailant entered the factory near Lyon and set off several small explosive devices. A decapitated body was found nearby, a separate legal source told Agence France-Presse.
“According to the initial findings of the inquiry, one or several individuals on board a vehicle drove into the factory. An explosion then took place,” the source said.
“The decapitated body of a person was found nearby the factory but we do not yet know whether the body was transported to the place or not,” added the source, who also said a flag with Arabic writing on it was found at the scene.
The French Interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, was heading immediately to the scene, his office said.
France has been on alert for possible Islamist-related attacks since gunmen killed 17 people in January in assaults on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a Jewish food store.
Two brothers attacked the satirical magazine, killing 12. A policewoman and four hostages in a Jewish supermarket were also killed during the three-day attack.
Air Products, based in Pennsylvania, supplies gases, chemicals and associated equipment. It has 20,000 employees and outlets in 50 countries.
Credit: theguardian.com
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