PARIS // French police on Saturday interrogated the man suspected of decapitating his boss and hanging his severed head on a factory gate, as prime minister Manuel Valls warned that France faced more attacks.
Yassin Salhi’s wife and sister were also in custody on Saturday, while another man was released without charge.
Prime minister Valls, who rushed home from an official trip to South America, said that Friday’s assault on a gas factory near the city of Lyon would increase tensions in the country and put citizens’ resilience “to the test”.
“The question is not ... if there will be another attack, but when,” he said.
President Francois Hollande called an urgent meeting with Mr Valls and key ministers on Saturday, as his government grapples with the extremist threat facing France, which has seen hundreds of citizens leave the country to fight in Iraq and Syria.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Paris prosecutor’s office said investigators have not turned up any motive or possible foreign connection. Salhi had previously been investigated for links to extremist Salafists in Lyon, but was not identified as having participated in terrorist activities.
The father-of-three caused an explosion on Friday by driving a delivery van into a warehouse containing bottles of dangerous gas and chemicals at the US-owned Air Products factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, some 40 kilometres from Lyon.
Firefighters overpowered Salhi before discovering the decapitated body of his 54-year-old boss – who ran a delivery firm – near the car, along with a knife.
The victim’s head was pinned to a nearby fence.
“The head was surrounded by two Islamic flags bearing the Shahada, the profession of [the Muslim] faith,” said French prosecutor Francois Molins.
For months, Europe has been on high alert for so-called “lone wolf” attacks by supporters of ISIL, which has urged its followers to strike wherever they can.
France has been on edge since January when three days of attacks by extremists killed 17 people in and around Paris.
* Agence France-Presse with additional reporting by Associated Press
