French beheading suspect admits to killing manager

The suspect held over an attack against a French chemical plant has admitted killing his manager, a source close to the investigation said on Sunday.

Yassin Salhi (35) told detectives he had killed Herve Cornara in a parking area before arriving at the plant in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, 30km south of Lyons, where he attempted to cause an explosion on Friday, the source said.

Police found the 54-year-old victim's decapitated body and head, framed by Islamic inscriptions, at the plant owned by US group Air Products. There were no other casualties.

Examination of one of Mr Salhi’s mobile phones has revealed that he took a “selfie” with the severed head before his arrest and sent the image via a messaging application to a Canadian phone number.

"We are assisting the French authorities with their investigation," a Canadian government spokesman said on Sunday. He declined to comment on unsubstantiated reports that the message's recipient was now believed to be in Syria.

According to French media reports, Mr Salhi told police he had argued with Mr Cornara as well as his own wife before the killing. One of their work colleagues, quoted on the website of television station i-Tele, also said the two men had clashed days earlier after Mr Salhi dropped a pallet of fragile equipment.

Potential risk

The suspect, whose wife and sister were released on Sunday after two days of questioning, is known to have associated with hard-line Islamists and had previously been flagged by French security services as a potential risk.

Flanked by heavily armed police in masks and flak jackets, Mr Salhi was taken on Sunday to the apartment he shared with his wife and three children in the quiet Lyons suburb of Saint-Priest for further searches to be conducted in his presence.

Earlier in the day, French prime minister Manuel Valls said the government was increasing resources in law enforcement and domestic intelligence to combat Islamic extremism.

“We cannot lose this war, because it is essentially a war of civilisation,” Mr Valls said in an interview broadcast on radio and i-Tele.

“It is our society, our civilisation and our values that we must defend.”

Reuters