SAINT-QUENTIN-FALLAVIER, France—A man once flagged for ties to French Islamic radicals rammed a vehicle Friday into an American-owned gas factory in southeastern France, triggering an explosion that injured two people, officials said. The severed head of his employer was left hanging at the factory’s entrance, along with banners with Arabic inscriptions, they said.
France immediately opened a terrorism investigation.
“Islamist terrorism has again struck France,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.
The attack began shortly before 10 a.m. when the vehicle made it through the gate of the gas factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, southeast of Lyon. The vehicle then plowed into gas canisters, touching off the blast, President Francois Hollande said in Brussels, where he was attending a European Union summit.
“No doubt about the intention — to cause an explosion,” Hollande said, calling the attack “of a terrorist nature.”
The French president later raised the security alert for the southeastern region to its highest level for the next three days.
