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 President Francois Hollande, dealing with new security fears less
than six months after 17 were killed by Islamist gunmen at satirical
weekly Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish foodstore in Paris, said the
incident clearly amounted to a terrorist attack.
Yassim Salhi is suspected of having rammed his delivery van into a
warehouse of gas containers, triggering an initial explosion. He was
arrested minutes later while opening canisters containing flammable
chemicals, prosecutors said on Friday
Police later found the head of the victim, the 54-year-old manager
of the transport firm that employed the suspect, dangling from a
fence at the site, framed by flags with written references to Islam.
Salhi, his wife, sister and a fourth person were being held for
questioning over the weekend. Salhi was known to French authorities
as a potential risk because he visited Islamists but there has been
no claim of responsibility for the attack.
 While an anti-terrorist inquiry has been launched, Paris public
prosecutor Francois Molins cautioned against premature conclusions
and said investigators had yet to fully understand what happened at
the industrial zone in Saint Quentin-Fallavier, 30 km (20 miles)
south of the city of Lyon.
"Questions remain over the exact chronology of events, what happened
when he arrived, the circumstances of the decapitation, the
motivation and whether there were accomplices," he said.
THREE ATTACKS ON SAME DAY
The latest attack in France occurred on the same day that a gunman
killed at least 37 people at a Tunisian beachside hotel and an
Islamic State suicide bomber killed two dozen and wounded more than
200 at a mosque in Kuwait.
However French authorities said there was no connection between the
attacks, and there was no indication that the site had been attacked
because it belonged to a U.S. company, industrial gases and
chemicals group Air Products.
"There is no other link other than to say that terrorism is our
common enemy," said Hollande said after rushing back to Paris from
an EU summit in Brussels.
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"There should be no doubt as to our country's ability to protect
itself and remain vigilant," he said, announcing a tightening of
national security to levels he said were unprecedented in recent
decades.
Unlike two of gunman behind the January attacks, Salhi does not have
a criminal record, but the fact he was listed between 2006 and 2008
as someone at risk of radicalization, and later came to the
attention of intelligence services because of his links to radical
Islamists, will spark local political debate.
It could also rekindle tensions surrounding France's five million
Muslims, despite the fact that the vast majority of them were
repulsed by the Charlie Hebdo killings.
While Salhi's Islamist connections were known to authorities,
neighbors at his family home in a quiet Lyon suburb expressed
disbelief at the turn of events on Friday.
"They are a very normal family," a 46-year-old housewife who gave
her name as Brigitte said. "I only talked with madame, he didn't say
hello or goodbye."
(Writing by Mark John; editing by Clive McKeef)
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