Man Beheaded In Terrorist Attack In US Factory In France

(RTTNews) - A man was decapitated and two others injured in an apparent terrorist attack in a US-based gas factory in southeast France Friday.

French President Francois Hollande is returning from Brussels to France on hearing the news.

At an emergency press conference before leaving the EU summit, he said it was a terrorist attack.

In the morning, two attackers drove into the Air Products And Chemicals Inc. (APD) industrial site in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, and set off an explosion, with the intention to blow the building, filled with gas canisters.

Hollande added that Arabic inscription was found on the severed head of the victim, which was pinned to the factory gate, while local reports said an Islamist flag was found at the site.

One attacker was arrested and identified. An investigation is underway, Hollande told reporters.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said one attacker was killed by a firefighter. He told reporters that the detained suspect was under observation for radicalization between 2006 and 2008.

A French newspaper reported that one of the assailants claimed he belonged to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Air Products said all staff at its factory have been evacuated and are accounted for. Police secured the site.

The latest incident in a series of terrorist attacks in France prompted Prime Minister Manuel Valls to issue an order urging the authorities to tighten security measures on sensitive sites in the country.

The targeted US multinational company's facility was situated close to the airport in Lyon. Air Products, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is focused on the production and supply of industrial gases, especially Oxygen, Nitrogen and Hydrogen. It has presence in 50 countries.