Murder scene: The murdered man’s head is understood to have been found 30 feet away from his body, hanging on the factory’s fence. The dead man’s head was covered in Arabic ‘inscriptions’ before being placed on the fence, according to local journalists at the scene
- Shocking attack took place at the headquarters of American-owned Air Products close to Lyon in southern France
- Two men burst through the factory gates in a car, setting off small ‘gas bombs’ and injuring factory workers
- Murder victim’s severed head was said to have been covered in Arabic writing and left hanging on a fence
- It is not yet clear whether the terrorists killed the man elsewhere and transported his body to the factory
- 30-year-old man ‘known to security services’ was arrested at the scene, telling officers he was a member of ISIS
Daily Mail, By John Hall and Fidelma Cook and Simon Tomlinson and Peter Allen
A man has been decapitated and dozens more injured at a gas product factory in France by terrorists carrying Islamist banners.
The attack took place at the headquarters of the American owned Air Products, in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near the city of Lyon, in the south east of the country.
The murder is believed to have been accompanied by several explosions on the site cause by a terrorist igniting small ‘gas bombs’ that injured dozens of factory workers. It is believed the explosions may have intended to blow up the entire factory site but failed.
The murdered man’s head is understood to have been found 30 feet away from his body, hanging on the factory’s fence. The dead man’s head was covered in Arabic ‘inscriptions’ before being placed on the fence, according to local journalists at the scene.
A 30-year-old man who was known to security services since at least 2008 has already been arrested at the scene, telling police officers that he is a member of the Islamic State terror group. The man is believed not to have a criminal record but was considered to have ‘possibly been radicalised’.
There remains a great deal of confusion over whether a second terrorist was involved and has now gone on the run, or whether a ‘lone wolf’ jihadi had actually killed the victim elsewhere and transported his body to site, confusing eyewitnesses.
Chaos: The attack took place at the headquarters of Air Products, in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, in the south east of the country. Local media reported that a 30-year-old man ‘known to security services’ has already been arrested at the scene
Witnesses at the scene claimed there more than one man was involved in the attack and that the perpetrators were carrying Islamist flags.
Two men were seen driving into the main gate soon after 10am, before driving around in circles throwing gas cylinders around the main yard. One of the men then jumped out of the car, according to local prosecuting sources, and then ‘decapitated a man’.
The attack was accompanied by several explosions caused by ‘gas bombs’ being ignited at the site, causing many of the injuries
Before the attack a man was seen driving back and forth outside the factory, according to Dauphiné Libéré.
An Islamic flag – possibly that of Islamic State – was found next to the dead body. The man’s head was found some 30 feet from the corpse.
French journalist Stefan Vries told Sky News: ‘There was an explosion at a gas factory. Several people were wounded and there has been one person decapitated on the premises.
‘His head was found a couple of yards from his body. A man has been arrested. He was allegedly carrying a flag of the Islamic State. Police fear there may be more attacks.’
Within an hour of the attack, French President Francois Hollande was to return home early from an EU summit.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels shortly afterwards, Hollande said a man who launched a ‘terrorist’ assault on a gas factory Friday has been identified and that there may have been a second attacker.
Lockdown: Local media reported that a 30-year-old man ‘known to security services’ has already been arrested at the scene, telling police officers that he is a member of the Islamic State terror group
‘This attack was in a vehicle driven by one person, perhaps accompanied by another,’ Hollande added. ‘The individual suspected of committing this attack has been arrested and identified.’
There remains a great deal of confusion over the exact sequence of events at the factory.
Some witnesses have claimed that the dead man may have been decapitated by one of the ‘gas bomb’ explosions, with the perpetrators taking advance of the shocking nature of his death to chilling effect – writing Islamist slogans on his severed head before hanging it on the fence.
Others have claimed that a single terrorist carried out the entire attack, driving an already dead and decapitated man to the factory site, which may have led some witnesses to believe there may have been more than one attacker.
Investigators are working to establish the full details of the attack but is widely thought that the explosions were intended to have a far bigger impact than causing several dozen injuries, and may have been intended to blow up the entire Air Products headquarters.
The president of Air Products – an American owned company that is understood to have recently signed a large contract with Saudi Arabia – is an Iranian Shia Muslim named Seifi Ghasemi.
Iran is known to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria – the sworn enemy of the Islamic State terror group.
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