27 Jun 2015

France will be attacked by terrorists again, Hollande warns

The French President says that further terror attacks in France are a matter not of ‘if’ but of ‘when’ as the suspect in the Islamist beheading is quizzed in Lyon

It is only a matter of time before France suffers another terrorism attack the country’s President has warned.

François Hollande said that he has “no doubt” there will be more terror plots in the country, as police question the 35-year-old suspected of beheading his manager at the gas factory where he worked.

The French leader said that “the question is not if there will be another attack… but when” after holding a second emergency meeting.

Delivery driver Yassin Salhi is being quizzed over the suspected Islamist attack which involved the brutal murder of his boss and an attempt to blow up a U.S.-owned chemicals plant in southeastern France.

He 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, French prosecutors confirmed on Friday.

Police later found the head of 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.

He is being held in Lyon where it is reported he is not responding to questioning. His wife, sister and a fourth person have also been taken into custody.

Mr Hollande said that nature of the attack showed it was clearly of ‘a terrorist nature’.

He said: ‘No doubt about the intention – to cause an explosion’.