What We Know So Far
- One person is dead and two more were injured Friday in a terror attack at an Air Products gas factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, France. The deceased victim was decapitated.
- Suspect Yassin Sahli was taken into custody following the attack. According to French President Francois Hollande, there was possibly more than one attacker.
- Sahli was monitored by security services between 2006 and 2008, according to French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
- There was a note found near the deceased victim, though details of the writing have not yet been released.
- France is still reeling from the terror attacks on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and other parts of Île-de-France in January that killed 20 people, including three gunmen.
Location of the Air Products factory, in relation to the city of Lyon:
Updates
Four people are in custody as part of the investigation into the attack at the gas factory, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said.
The attacker, along with his wife, sister and another person are all being questioned about the killing and explosion. Molins also said that the attacker regularly made deliveries to the factory and was known to the factory's workers.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor confirmed that the decapitated head of the victim was found hanging from a gate on the factory's grounds. The head was flanked by two flags with the shahada written on them. The victim's body was found inside the truck and a knife was discovered nearby.
The attack at the factory occurred on the same day gunmen killed at least 37 tourists at Tunisia hotels and 25 were killed in a suicide bombing in Kuwait. While they were all classified as terrorist attacks, there is no evidence that suggests ISIS was responsible for all three attacks.
The White House released the following statement Friday afternoon regarding the attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait:
French officials have confirmed that the victim in the France attack was the suspect's employer, according to the AP.
BREAKING: French officials: Decapitated victim in French factory attack was employer of suspect.
The officials, who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity, said that it is believed that the victim was killed before the suspect drove through the gates of the factory and crashed into the gas canisters. That crash triggered an explosion that injured two.
The identity of the victim has not yet been released.
Air Products have said that all employees at its site in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier have been accounted for, AP reported.
In a statement, the U.S.-based gas manufacturer said that all its employees had been evacuated from the site, which is now secure, and added, "[O]ur crisis and emergency response teams have been activated and are working closely with all relevant authorities."
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has addressed the terror attacks in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier and Tunisia on Twitter.
Le menace et l'horreur aveugles des terroristes n'épargnent aucune nation. Mes pensées à la victime en #Isère et aux victimes en Tunisie. MV
Translation:
The blind threat and horror of terrorists spares no nation. My thoughts to the victim in Isère and the victims in Tunisia.
One man has been killed and two more injured in a terror attack at a gas factory in the town of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in eastern France on Friday morning, French President Francois Hollande said.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, Hollande said: "The terrorist nature of this act is in no doubt." He said that there was one, possibly two attackers, and one man was arrested at the scene. The victim had been beheaded.
President Francois Hollande is addressing the media following an attack in eastern #France. http://t.co/FlRWJAqVJo
Hollande also confirmed that a written message was found near the deceased victim but did not disclose the details of the writing.
Speaking on his arrival at the scene early Friday afternoon, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve named the suspect as Yassin Sahli, and said he had been monitored by security services between 2006 and 2008.
"L'auteur supposé de ce crime, Yassine .S, a été neutralisé par un pompier", dit Bernard Cazeneuve #Isère
Cazeneuve added that Sahli, 35, had been marked as possibly having been radicalized and linked to the Salafist movement, but had no previous criminal record.
He said that Sahli had been apprehended by a "courageous" firefighter.
Two French officials, who spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity, had previously confirmed French media reports that a man had been decapitated at the factory. The attackers crashed into the factory gates, and set off a gas explosion.
Attentat de Daesh à Saint-Quentin-Fallavier : un homme aurait été décapité http://t.co/NxjkVosbdh
French anti-terrorism authorities are investigating the attack, the French Justice Ministry said.
#SaintQuentin Fallavier:la section antiterroriste du parquet de Paris vient de se saisir de l'enquête.Le parquet de Paris se rend sur place.
In a statement, the ministry said that the anti-terrorism unit of Paris police was investigating the "murder and attempted murders by a group linked with a terrorist enterprise" and "destruction, degradation through an explosive substance."
The attack took place at the Air Products gas factory in the town, which is located to the east of Lyon.
Witnesses filmed emergency vehicles approaching the factory on Friday morning.
#SaintQuentinFallavier #Attentat #airproduct