Grenoble attack: Man found beheaded and Islamist flag raised above factory in France - latest

• A decapitated body was found near a gas factory in south-eastern France, near Grenoble
• A man suspected and named as Yassin Salhi has been arrested and identified
•

Latest

18.13

Thank you following our live coverage of the France attack near Lyon. You can read a wrap of the day's events here.

This live blog will now close but make sure you follow our coverage of the terror attacks in Tunisia and France with Barney Henderson here.

Here is a summary of the day's events and what we know so far:

1. On Friday morning, an attacker in a car is believed to have thrown gas canisters causing explosions. Two people were injured
2. Local authorities said they had found a decapitated body and a head on a fence with Arabic writing on it
3. Sources said they also found Islamist flags – one white and one black, both bearing Arabic inscriptions
4. Yassin Salhi, the prime suspect aged 35, was arrested and later identified by Bernard Cazeneuve, interior minister
5. His wife has also been arrested just after she apparently gave an interview to Europe 1 radio station
6. It was later reported that the decapitated body belonged to Salhi's boss
7. An antiterrorist investigation has been launched and later it was reported he may have acted alone despite the arrests
8. French president François Hollande left an EU summit in Brussels early to return to France earlier in the day

17.57

Police sources now believe that Yassin Salhi, the prime suspect in the French factory attack, acted "alone", although he may have had accomplices in the preparation for the assault in which he decapitated his boss and injured two others, Henry Samuel in Paris.

François Moulins, the Paris prosecutor, is due to hold a press conference at 7pm local time on the situation.

17.13

A young local Muslim man was furious after hearing news of the attack, writes Rory Mulholland in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier.

"To carry out such an attack on a Friday during the holy month of Ramadan is not respectful of Islam," said Mehdi, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian parents.

"These people may say they are Muslims but they are not," said Mehdi, who was dressed in a long white djellaba and who said he lived around 100 yards from the scene of the attack.

"I am angry. They have no right to set off bombs beside our homes where our children live."

16.55

Gerard Larcher, the speaker of the French Senate, said the industrial gas factory that was targeted was a customer of the delivery firm the suspected attacker worked for.

"That is how he got access," he told journalists near the site of the attack.

16.39

BREAKING: Spain raises terror alert level to high after attacks

French Special forces search the apartment of a man suspected of carrying out an attack in Saint-Priest near Lyon (AFP)

16.36

Four people have been arrested today in connection with the attack on a gas factory in south-eastern France. Yassin Salhi, the prime suspect, his wife and sister.

A fourth man, taken in for questioning on suspicion of conducting "reconnaissance" at the site before the attack was detained but released this evening.

On the ground, Rory Mulholland in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier sends us this:

Police have thrown a security cordon around the plant where the attack took place, keeping all traffic and people about half a mile back from the site.

The factory is in the heart of a giant industrial park on the edge of a small town about 20 miles southeast of Lyon. The site is home to about 300 companies employing a total of 13,000 people.

16.24

François Hollande said France's "vigipirate" anti-terrorism plan will be raised to its maximum level for the next three days in the Rhone-Alps department where the attack took place, writes Henry Samuel in Paris.

Extra security will be deployed to railway stations, industrial sites and other potentially vulnerable sites.

Mr Hollande paid tribute to the "particularly brave fireman" who overpowered the attacker. "The question now is whether he had any accomplices," he said.

Mr Hollande said the man killed in the attack, reportedly the assailant's boss in a local delivery firm, was a 50-year-old who was "murdered in a cowardly manner". He also said two people had been "slightly injured" when the attacker's car rammed the factory's gates.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), the main body representing Muslims in France, has condemned today's attack.

"The CFCM expresses its most profound indignation at these barbaric acts that cannot lay claim to any religion or any cause," said the group’s president Dalil Boubakeur.

He called the " whole national community” to come together in “vigilance, unity and solidarity".

16.14

An Israeli minister has called on French Jews to flee to the Jewish state.

"I call on the Jews of France - come home! Anti-Semitism is rising, terror is increasing," immigration minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party said in a statement.

"This is a national mission of the highest priority."

16.07

French newspaper Le Figaro has spoken to neighbours of the prime suspect, describing him as "quiet", James Rothwell writes.

"Their children played with mine," said a neighbour in her forties, who asked not to be named. "They are absolutely normal and affectionate."

Another said: "He spoke to nobody, we would just exchange greetings." He had no distinguishing features except a "small beard", they added.

15.54

The person found beheaded was the manager of the man suspected of then ramming their delivery vehicle into gas canisters there, a source close to the investigation said,

The source said the two had gone to the company's premises together to make a delivery. But the suspect killed and decapitated his victim before then driving their vehicle into the site, the source said.

15.52

Mr Hollande puts security alert at highest level in attacked region.

15.40

The wife of a man suspected of carrying out an attack on a gas factory in France, during which a decapitated head was put on display, has been taken into police custody, a legal source said.

Police are currently also holding her husband, Yassin Salhi, 35, and another person who was seen driving up and down the gas site in a suspicious manner but has not been formally linked to the attack.

^{Members of France's Research and Intervention Brigades (BRI) special forces escort an unidentified woman and child as they leave the building in Saint-Priest, near Lyon, where the man suspected of carrying out the terrorist attack has an apartment (PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP)}

15.15

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Maxine de Brunner said the Met was aware of the events in France and Tunisia, and was "monitoring the situation".

She reiterated what she said was their long-standing advice to remain "vigilant and alert".

Mr Hollande and his Tunisian counterpart Beji Caid Essebsi expressed their solidarity against the "scourge" of terrorism, after attacks in both countries.

The two leaders spoke after an attack in Tunisia left 27 dead at a beach resort, and a man was decapitated near the eastern French city of Lyon. They "expressed their solidarity in the face of terrorism", the French presidency said in a statement.

14.57

François Hollande begins an emergency security meeting at Elysée Palace.

14.55

According to Dauphiné Libéré, the person killed in the attack was a manager of a transport company who was at the factory to make a delivery

French senator Nathalie Goulet, who sits on the commission of Foreign Affairs and Defense Forces, has called for more police and databases for suspected terrorists in the wake today’s attack in comments to FRANCE 24.

14.53

French local radio ISA has spoken to a witness - a driver named "Sami", which James Rothwell has translated.

He said: "I was on a delivery to a firm nearby. I just saw the vehicle and the head attached to the gates, but at first I didn't realise it was a head. I was distressed and shocked.

"You wouldn't expect something like that to happen in a workplace. You would think it would be a tourist site, in capital cities - but in an industrial site outside of Lyon, that is distressing."

Meanwhile, the Government's emergency Cobra committee will meet this afternoon following terror attacks in France and Tunisia, David Cameron said as he offered "our solidarity in fighting this evil of terrorism".

You can read our coverage of the Tunisia terror attack here.

14.47

Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, Socialist Party leader tweets: "Isère,Tunisia,Kuwait...A troubling coincidence? Or a message of terror: "We will strike everywhere"? Republican unity and vigilance."

Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary has offered his condolences via Twitter.

14.43

"How can you do that on a day of Ramadan? God did not tell us to kill," Tito, a resident tells Le Monde journalist at foot of building where Yacine Sali lives, Henry Samuel in Paris writes.

"This is not Islam! This is not Islam," says one neighbour.

The arrested suspect, named earlier as Yassin Salhi, was put on a police watch list for possible radicalisation in 2006 because he attended a “very radical” mosque and prayer centres in Lyon, Roland Jacquard, of the International Observatory of terrorism, told FRANCE 24.

One prayer centre he attended in particular was known for its links to an unnamed terrorist group at the time, he said.

However, in 2008, he fell “completely off the radar”.

^{French police secure the entrance of the Air Products company in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier (Abaca / Barcroft Media)}

14.38

The wife of the suspect arrested has been held, a legal source tells AFP.

14.31

The second person arrested in connection with the terror strike is suspected of "carrying out reconnaissance at the site" before the attack, says Le Monde.

14.30

A man whose decapitated head was pinned to the gates of a French factory in a grisly attack has been identified as a local businessman from eastern France, a source close to the investigation said.

It was not clear whether the businessman was killed on the site of the attack, where a suspected Islamist drove a vehicle into an Air Products factory around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Lyon before setting off several explosive devices.

14.22

The alleged wife has said her and Yassin Salhi have three children.

"We are normal Muslims. We do Ramadan. We have three children and a normal family life," the wife, Henry Samuel in Paris reports.

14.05

Europe 1 has spoken to a woman who claims she is Yassin Salhi's wife, writes James Rothwell. "I have no idea what's happened, has he been arrested?' she told the radio station."

She said her husband worked as a delivery driver.

"He didn't come back between midday and two o'clock, which is when I expect him back. My step sister told me to look at the TV and see the news and she was crying. I thought my heart was going to stop beating.

"I know him he is my husband. We have a normal family life. He goes to work and comes home. He doesn't pick up the phone when I call, it goes to the answer machine," she added.

There are reports that Salhi has three children but this has not been confirmed.

13.45

French anti-terror raid police are currently raiding the home of Yassin Salhi, the suspect arrested this morning at the factory, Henry Samuel in Paris writes.

A second suspect said to be "close" to him has been arrested, the interior ministry says.

"France has been struck again by terror," the country's prime minister, Manuel Valls, said as he was cutting short a trip to South America to return to Paris.

"The terrorists' threats and blind horrors spare no nation. My thoughts go to the victims of Isère and the victims in Tunisia," he said from Colombia.

13.30

Ségolène Royale, a French socialist politician, has been speaking to reporters, James Rothwell writes.

She said: "This was an abominable attack... my thoughts go first of all to the families of the victims and the employees of this factory, who have no doubt been profoundly traumatised.

"The French government and authorities have reacted by increasing security at other sensitive sites. I would like to also say, as a member of the government, that unity among the French at this tragic moment is absolutely essential."

French Gendarmes block the access road to the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier (Reuters)

13.17

France's prime minister said an attack on a factory Friday was "Islamist terrorism," announcing he was cutting short a visit to South America to deal with the crisis.

"Islamist terrorism has hit France again," Manuel Valls told a press conference in Colombia's capital Bogota, adding that he would take part by telephone in an emergency meeting called by M r Hollande, then rush back to France.

The suspect arrested is reportedly married with three kids.

13.12

The Telegraph's James Rothwell has been looking at French media reaction:

Jean-Jack Queyranne, president of the Rhône-Alpes region, told Le Figaro: "I feel a sense of horror in the face of the barbarism that has just taken place in Isère in the heart of our region.

First of all I would like to express my solidarity with the victims, their families and those close to them.

"We must be careful to ensure that fear does not become widespread. As in January [during the Charlie Hebdo massacre] the nation must unite as a whole to face up to this danger. For it is the nation that must combat terror."

^{French police and firefighters gather at the entrance of the Air Products company in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier (AFP/Getty Images)}

12.59

Germany stands united with France against "terror's blind hate" and in defence of "free society", Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister, said

Mr Steinmeier said he was appalled by the "shocking news of a heinous murder and an assault with several injured", calling it an "act of terror and fanaticism which we condemn in the strongest terms".

Barack Obama has been briefed on the attack at a US gas company in France, a senior administration official said, providing no further details.

12.30

Mr Cazeneuve says the suspected accomplices in the attack are being held by police. The man arrested has been known to security services since 2006 but surveillance stopped in 2008. He has no criminal record.

The interior minister said he had been filed as possibly being radicalised.

The French attack suspect had 'link' to Salafist movement, AFP reports.

12.20

BREAKING: Bernard Cazeneuve has named the suspect arrested as Yassin Salhi.

12.09

Mr Hollande learnt of the terrorist attack just as the European Council was reconvening before 10am, Matthew Holehouse in Brussels writes. Here are some more comments in full from Mr Hollande.

The interior minister and public prosecutor "immediately" went to the site. The plant is under further protection and "all measures" are being taken, he said.

Bernard Cazeneuve will speak later to provide limited "useful" information.

Our thoughts go to the victim. It is a matter of solidarity. The European Council has expressed solidarity.

"There is a lot of emotion but it cannot be the only answer. Other answers are protection, deterrence. And the necessity to spread our values and never give in to fear, and to shoulder our responsibilities in all circumstances.

"It is not about spreading suspicion, but doing our job, protecting our people while finding out the truth and the individuals responsible for such actions."

Mr Hollande is to hold a meeting at the Elysee at 3.30pm.

12.01

More detail from Mr Hollande's press conference just now from Matthew Holehouse in Brussels.

Mr Hollande confirmed one person has died and two injured. He said a suspect has been arrested and identified.

He explained some of what happened during the attack and said a car driven by one person, maybe two, to the factory and their target was a gas bottle factory.

"This attack was in a vehicle driven by one person, perhaps accompanied by another."

Their intention was to provoke an explosion, he said.

A body was found decapitated, and two injured as well as a message found. "It is a terrorist attack - there is no doubt about it," Mr Hollande said

He will return to Paris to oversee the operation and said "huge" numbers of troops have been deployed to protect other facilities

He said: "We will never give in to fear."

11.54

Donald Tusk, the European Council president, has offered his condolences.

11.49

President Francois Hollande is speaking and says troops have been deployed in the region to prevent another attack.

Earlier he said the attacker had been identified but said there was an "ongoing investigation". He said there were one or two assailants.

"Our thoughts go to the victims. The European Council expressed his solidarity - we remember what happened in our country and other countries."

He also said: "The attack was of a terrorist nature given that a corpse with Islamist inscriptions were found."

11.48

Two men are believed to have driven into the main gate before 10am. The second suspect is an unconfirmed entity.

The car then drove around in circles and a person inside threw gas cylinders around the main yard, Mail Online reported.

Local prosecuting sources said a man jumped out of the car and then "decapitated a man".

^{Emergency personnel work at the scene of a suspected Islamist attack, outside the Air Products factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier (EPA)}

11.38

Alain Juppé, the mayor of Bordeaux, has condemned the attacks saying that France "must make every effort to protect its citizens".

"The terrorist threat is at a maximum," he says.

Mr Hollande is returning home early from the EU summit on Friday, officials said.

"He will return early this afternoon and is in constant contact with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the security services," the official said, adding that he would make a statement to the press in Brussels before 1100 GMT.

"The president saw the first images of the attack on the 24-news channels with Angela Merkel, German chancellor, beside him, who was visibly shocked," an official added.

The two leaders had just ended a short meeting with Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister.

(Pic:

Le Dauphine

)

11.32

The man arrested is refusing to talk, according to BFM TV reporters. The channel reports that the individual has no papers that can identify him thus police have not yet been able to either.

A security official said the torso was found near the site of the explosion but that the victim was not decapitated by the blast.

Two flags, one white and one black and both with Arabic inscriptions, were found at the scene, Associated Press reported.

11.30

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, has spoken to Mr Hollande to convey his sympathies, writes Steven Swinford, Deputy Political Editor.

The Prime Minister has spoken to Francois Hollande, the French President, at the EU summit in Brussels about the terror attack. A British official said:

He expressed his sympathies for what looks like an appalling incident there. It clearly looks like an extremely concerning situation and our thoughts are with all those that are affected by it."

The interior minister has now arrived at the factory as this pictures shows from Le Dauphine.

11.17

Francois Hollande is expected to return to France. Sky News are reporting that police are still looking for a man near the factory earlier today.

11.15

Some background from Josie Ensor about Air Products.

It is interesting to note that the president of the company targeted in the attack, Air Products, is a Shia Iranian named Seifi Ghasemi.

Iran supports Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, which is battling against Sunni Islamic State militants.

The scene in Grenoble via Le Dauphine.

11.10

A video from the scene via ledauphine.com.

France's anti-terror prosecutors have opened an inquiry for "murder and attempted murder in a group in relation to a terrorist organisation", writes Henry Samuel in Paris.

Itele cites police sources as describing as "false" reports that the man arrested is known to French intelligence services.

The 40-odd employees in the factory have been evacuated.

Witnesses at the scene said there was more than one attacker involved but this is unconfirmed.

11.05

What we know so far from AFP:

1. A suspected Islamist attacker pinned a decapitated head covered with Arabic writing to the gates of a gas factory in eastern France on Friday before being arrested, police say
2. The suspect entered the factory and set off several small explosive devices, the source said at around 10am local time
3. Police said it was unclear whether the attacker was acting alone, or had accomplices
4. A man thought to be the person who carried out the attack has been arrested - it is reported he is known to the security services
5. Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister said is on his way to the scene, his office say

11.02

The man arrested reportedly said he was a member of Islamic State.

10.56

France's president and prime minister are both currently abroad, but it looks like François Hollande, the president, may be returning prematurely from Brussels to handle the crisis, Henry Samuel writes.

10.55

This is the factory where the attack took place earlier today.

Banners with Arabic writing were found near the body, one official has told Associated Press.

10.52

French authorities have officially opened a terrorist investigation into today's attack.

10.48

Air Products, the American company targeted in the attack has 21,000 employees, according to its website, and sold industrial gases including nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, The Telegraph's Josie Ensor writes.

10.45

Francois Hollande, the president, is in Brussels for the EU summit but the meetings have begun without the leader.

We do not know yet if he will be returning to France.

Manuel Valls, the prime minister, has said that there will be tightened security measures on 'sensitive' sites after the attack.

Mr Valls also called for "heightened vigilance" at all sensitive sites in the Rhône-Alpes area.

10.43

Sky News has said the arrested man is believed to be 30 years old and known to France's anti-terrorist police (DGSI).

There was Arabic writing on severed head pinned to French factory gates, a legal source tells AFP.

10.39

Here is what we know so far:

Two men brandishing what appears to be an Islamic State flag launched an attack on a chemical factoy in Isère, southeastern France, on Friday morning, Henry Samuel writes.

The Air Products factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier produces industrial gas and is considered a “sensitive site”, said a Erwann Binet, Socialist MP for the Isère département. The factory is on the outskirts of Lyon.

The two assailants rammed a vehicle carrying bottles of gas into the Air Products factory in Saint Quentin, in the south-eastern Isère area.

One was brandishing what appears to be an Islamic State flag.

A “strong” explosion ensued. According to the interior ministry, two employees were injured in the blast. Another man was found decapitated near the factory. According to iTele, the rolling news channel, he was not a factory employee.

One man, thought to be one of the assailants, has been arrested, said the interior ministry.

France's elite GIGN anti-terror police have been sent to the site.

Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minsiter, said he is on his way to the area "immediately".

“We are all in a state of shock as we didn’t expect any attack in our territory,” said Mr Binet.

A police source cited by RTL radio said "other attacks cannot be ruled out".

10.33

Le Dauphiné Liberé reports that a man has been arrested but it is unknown if he is the suspected attacker. AFP cites a source saying that it is the attacker.

According to Sky News, there could be two attackers.

Meanwhile, the Local France reports that the decapitated man was not an employee at the factory.

The attack is believed to have taken place at 10am local time, 9am BST.

10.30

More from AFP's source:

"According to the initial findings of the enquiry, one or several individuals on board a vehicle, drove into the factory. An explosion then took place," said one of the sources.

"The decapitated body of a person was found nearby the factory but we do not yet know whether the body was transported to the place or not," added this source, adding that a "flag with Arabic writing on it was found on the scene."

According to a local French newspaper a man's head was chopped off and then hung on fence of the factory in St Quentin Fallavier. This remains unconfirmed.

10.26

There are reports that the factory belongs to Air Products. French media report that the suspected attacker rammed his car into the factory.

10.23

The explosions are believed to have been set off in the factory using gas canisters.

10.20

Hello and welcome to the Telegraph's live coverage of the attack on a French factory where a decapitated body was found nearby.

An attacker carrying an Islamist flag killed one person and injured several others today at a gas factory in eastern France, according to a legal source, AFP reported.

The suspected attacker entered the factory and set off several small explosive devices, the source said.

Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister, said he would go "immediately" to the scene, his office said.

The attack comes six months after the Charlie Hebdo attack and the three-day siege in Paris during which 17 people were killed.