A man identified in news reports as a manager of a transport company believed to be making a delivery was decapitated in what was being called a terrorist attack on the Air Products L'Isle-d'Abeau industrial gases production site near Lyon, France.
French authorities are investigating the incident that took place on Jun. 26. Alongside the decapitated body covered with Arabic writing, Islamist flags are said to have been found at the scene. At least two arrests had been made on Friday.
One of the arrested men, who officials said was investigated for radicalism a few years ago but never charged, is reported to have rammed a car through the factory gates and plowed into gas canisters, which detonated and injured two people.
In reaction to the incident, French President Francois Hollande left the EU summit in Brussels and returned to France. In a press conference, he said the aim was to blow up the plant.
Air Products confirmed that “an incident occurred at our facility in L'Isle-d'Abeau, France." “Our priority at this stage is to take care of our employees, who have been evacuated from the site and all accounted for,” a company spokesman said.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls ordered security tightened at sensitive sites. The industrial zone near Saint-Quentin Fallavier is one of Europe's major logistics hubs and also home to a facility of French rival Air Liquide.
The site’s security requirements are said to be at the low end of those mandated by the EU’s Seveso Directive.