26 June 2015

Police have opened a terror investigation into an attack on a French factory

One person is dead and several are reported wounded at the site of a suspected terrorist attack near Lyon.

(Photo By Emergency services gather at the entrance to the Grenoble factory. Image: Getty. )

A decapitated man has been found near a gas factory near Lyon following an attack on the factory itself.

Police sources told Agence France-Presse that an attacker or attackers drove into the Air Products factory and set off several small explosives, which then set off a gas explosion. It’s unclear whether the decapitated body was brought to the factory, or was killed as part of the attack. The source also said that a “flag with Arabic writing on it” was found at the scene.

French police have now opened a terrorism investigation into the attack, according to Associated Press. France’s anti-terror prosecutor is saying that the attack was carried out by “a terrorist group”. There are reports that François Hollande has left an EU summit in Brussels early in order to return to Paris.

Update 12:06: President Hollande has given a statement from Brussels. Here’s a translation of part of it, courtesy of The Guardian:

We have no doubt the attack was intended to explode the building. The attack bears the hallmarks of a terrorist attack. A decapitated body was found with inscriptions written on it. There was one dead and two injured. There interior minister went to the scene immediately. The suspect who carried out this attack was arrested and identified.”

He also said that European leaders have all expressed their solidarity with France, and that he will now travel back to Paris.