海角大神

A daily roundup of terrorism and security issues.

French officials have launched a terrorism investigation after an attack on a gas factory in southeastern France this morning left one dead and several wounded. The assault comes nearly six months after Islamist gunmen shot their way into the offices of a satirical newspaper in Paris, increasing concerns over terrorism on French soil.

Friday鈥檚 incident occurred around 10 a.m., when聽reports indicate that two suspects allegedly rammed their way into the US-owned Air Products gas factory outside of Lyon, in southeastern France, reports Agence France-Presse. They set off several small explosions, according to witness accounts.

Officials found a decapitated body and head, which was covered in Arabic writing, near the factory, but it is unclear if the corpse was transported to the site or the mutilation took place during the attack. There are also reports of a flag with Arabic writing found at the scene.

One suspect is now in custody, according to the Guardian.聽AFP reports that France's Interior minister, Bernard聽Cazeneuve, says the suspect has links to the Salafist movement.

The BBC, meanwhile, reports that the suspect who has been caught had attracted the attention of law enforcement officials in the past.

President Fran莽ois Hollande said in a statement from Brussels that 聽鈥渨e have no doubt the attack was intended to explode the building. It bears the hallmarks of a terrorist attack.鈥� He indicated that he planned to return to France immediately.

If confirmed as a terrorist attack, it will be the second major incident in France so far this year. Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in Paris in January at the offices of a satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and at a small Jewish grocery store. In April, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that at least five attacks had been thwarted since the beginning of the year.聽

France is one of Europe鈥檚 biggest suppliers of foreign fighters to places like Syria and Iraq, both strongholds for the self-described terror group Islamic State. According to data from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, an estimated 1,200 French fighters have been recruited to fight abroad so far.

In response, efforts are growing across Europe to halt so-called 鈥渉ome-grown鈥� terrorism, when locals become radicalized, oftentimes online, and try to carry out attacks, reports 海角大神.

But it鈥檚 no easy task. Europeans of various backgrounds have been drawn into terrorist activities abroad 鈥� whether physically or psychologically.