One decapitated in ‘terrorist’ attack on France gas factory

Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, France: At least one suspected militant launched a daylight raid on an industrial gas factory in France Friday and pinned a severed head to the gates, in what President Francois Hollande called a "terrorist" attack.

The grisly attack near France´s second city of Lyon came on an especially bloody day worldwide, with at least 27 gunned down at a beach resort in Tunisia and 13 killed in a suicide bombing in Kuwait claimed by Islamic State extremists.

"The intent was without doubt to cause an explosion. It was a terrorist attack," said Francois Hollande in Brussels, cutting short an EU summit to chair emergency meetings in the French capital.

Hollande said a vehicle driven at high speed by "one person, maybe accompanied by another" smashed into the factory, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Lyon.

"At the time I am speaking, there is one dead and two injured," said a grim-faced Hollande, calling for "solidarity" for the victim, who was found with Arabic inscriptions on him.

The bloody discovery of the decapitated head is thought to be the first instance in France of a beheading during an attack -- which has become a trademark of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

And the gruesome killing came nearly six months after the attacks in and around Paris that left 17 people dead and started with a shooting at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. (AFP)