Decapitated body found in attack on factory in France (video)

One attacker killed by firefighter and another arrested after police find severed head and flag with Islamist inscriptions at site of explosio.

France has launched a terrorism investigation after police found a decapitated body and a flag with Islamist inscriptions after an attack on a factory belonging to a US gas company in the south-east of the country.

“It is a terror attack. There is no doubt about it,” the country’s president, François Hollande, told reporters in Brussels before leaving a European council summit to return to Paris.

A decapitated body found at the scene had “a message written on it”, Hollande said, without elaborating. The attack left one person dead and two injured, he said.

The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said a firefighter had killed one of the attackers and another had been arrested. The detainee was still to be identified, but he was thought to be Yessim Salim, he said.

Details of the attack remained unclear three hours after police were first called at about 10am (0800 GMT).

According to a source linked to the investigation and quoted by Agence France-Presse, the incident began when “one or several individuals” drove a vehicle into a factory belonging to the US multinational Air Products in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon. There was then an explosion, which some reports said was apparently caused by gas canisters.

Another security source told the Associated Press a severed head was found on top of the gate at the entrance to the factory. The official said the body was found near the site of the explosion, and that it seemed the blast was not the cause of the decapitation.

Two flags, one white and one black, both with Arabic inscriptions, were found at the scene, the same source told AP.

Air Products confirmed there had been an incident at its factory and said all staff had been evacuated.

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“We can confirm that an incident occurred at our facility in L’Isle-d’Abeau, France this morning,” a statement said. “Our priority at this stage is to take care of our employees, who have been evacuated from the site and all accounted for.

“Emergency services are on site and have contained the situation. The site is secure. Our crisis and emergency response teams have been activated and are working closely with all relevant authorities.”

Hollande, who said he would return immediately to the Élysée palace, said the vehicle was crashed into the building with “clearly an intention to cause damage”. Police and troops had been deployed and “all measures are being taken to prevent any other tragedies”, he added.

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.

Hollande said the response to such attacks should be measured: “We all remember what has happened in our country, and in other countries. There is a lot of emotion, but emotion is not the only answer. We need action, deterrence, and we need to spread out values and to never give in to fear.”

The British leader, David Cameron, spoke to Hollande on Friday, Reuters cited an unnamed official as saying. “The prime minister has just spoken to President Hollande to express his sympathies for what looks like an appalling incident there,” they said. “It clearly looks an extremely concerning situation and our thoughts are with all those affected by it.” 

Air Products, based in Pennsylvania, supplies gases, chemicals and associated equipment. It has 20,000 employees and outlets in 50 countries.