France attack: As it happened

The White House says US law enforcement officials are in contact with their counterparts in France following this morning's attack.

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A source close to the investigation quoted by Reuters confirms earlier reports that the dead man was the suspect's boss.

It says he was 50 years old and both he and the suspect had been due to travel together to make a delivery to the Air Products site - seen in the top right of the image above.

Spain has raised its terror alert level from medium to high after the attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said: "Considering the proximity of our country to the places where some of these attacks took place, it has been proposed to raise the anti-terrorist alert".

The tactics adopted by France's security services are likely to remain the same despite the events in in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier.

Officials will not try to second guess the activities of potential jihadi terrorists. The focus of the troop deployment launched after the Charlie Hebdo magazine attack in Paris in January will remain on protecting targets such as Jewish institutions and certain media outlets.

France Info radio says that Yassin Salih's sister is also now in custody. 

The highest terror alert announced by French president Francois Hollande is in place for the next three days in the south-east Rhone Alpes region only, not across the whole of France.

BBCCopyright: BBC

French media are reporting that an anti-terror prosecutor in Paris will give a press conference at 19:00 local time (18:00 BST), in which further details on Friday's attack will be given.

France's interior ministry has just released images of the site of Friday's attack - it shows the Air Products factory in better detail than any other image so far. Also photographed are firemen who arrived first at the scene and who were called heroes by president Francois Hollande.

EPACopyright: EPA

EPACopyright: EPA

The Est Republicain newspaper goes on to say that a radical preacher was made to leave a mosque in Pontarlier that Sahli attended in the early 2000s.

The preacher, named Ali, left after a failed takeover of the mosque with a group of extremist Islamists.

After that, the newspaper reports, he went to Egypt then Indonesia, where he was suspected of helping carry out a terror attack.

He is currently in Morocco.

The newspaper says its sources claim there is a strong chance of a link between Sahli and the preacher.

The Est Republicain newspaper, that covers the city of Besancon and the Franche-Comte region, says (in French) that Yassin Sahli is originally from the town of Pontarlier.

Pontarlier is a small town halfway between Besancon and Lausanne in Switzerland - further north from Lyon.

The newspaper says he lived there before moving to Besancon around 10 years ago, and is of Algerian and Moroccan descent.

It claims he may have been radicalised by another man from Pontarlier who then went to Indonesia.

EPACopyright: EPA

The French president Francois Hollande has been speaking in Paris after a security meeting.

He praised the "extremely brave" firemen who tackled the suspect.

He said the victim - believed to the boss of the suspect - was 50 years old and he died in a "cowardly attack".

Mr Hollande said the security level would be raised to its highest point, and that thousands of police officers would be deployed across France to improve security over the coming days.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

A lot of the reports in France note that the suspect, believed to be 35-year-old Yassin Salhi, was on the 'S register' with the security services. So what does that mean?

The French network BFM reports that it is the same classification given to other terror suspects, such as Mohamed Merah, who killed seven people in the Toulouse area in 2012.

Merah was tracked by security services for two years - as, reportedly, was Mr Salhi. They both appeared on the S register because of suspected terror links, but, following protocol, security services stopped following them two years later after no evidence emerged of terrorist activity.

The France Info radio station has been speaking to the suspect's neighbours.

It says he was seen as quiet, with no indications he had been radicalised. France Info tweets that he had moved to the Lyon area seven months ago, having previously lived in the city of Besancon, further north in the Vosges area.

AFP reports that the victim of Friday was the boss of the suspect. They've been told that by a source close to the investigation. AP earlier said he had been killed away from the site of the factory.

Here's another image of someone being taken away from the house of the suspect in Saint-Priest. AFP reports that the suspect's wife has been taken into custody.

AFP/GettyCopyright: AFP/Getty

Jean-Paul Bonnetain, prefect of Isere region, has confirmed the vehicle used to gain access to the site had the necessary authorisation.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the site of the explosion would have had to implement security arrangements at the low end of the European Union regulations for zones where gases and chemicals are handled.

The BBC has produced a timeline of the most recent terror attacks in France - the most notable being the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a Jewish supermarket in Paris in January.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Le Dauphine Libere has more detail on the suspect, in French.

One neighbour in the Lyon suburb of Saint-Priest says they were "a very quiet family" with three children aged between six and nine years old.

The suspect was never seen at the mosque in Saint-Priest, another neighbour says.

The first images are coming in of the police raid in the Lyon suburb of Saint-Priest, where the suspect is believed to live. AFP says the man's partner has been taken into custody.

One of the images shows a woman and a child being taken away under a blanket.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

AFP/GettyCopyright: AFP/Getty

AFP/GettyCopyright: AFP/Getty

AFP reports that the suspect's wife has been taken into police custody, according to a legal source.

More on the identity of the dead man. A French security official has confirmed to the AP news agency that he has been identified as a local businessman. He added he was believed to have been killed away from the site.

Who is Yassin Salhi? How long had he planned this attack? Did he have accomplices, or contacts abroad who urged him to act? Did the intelligence services slip up by taking him off their red list in 2008?

We know that he lives in a council flat in the Lyon suburb of Saint-Priest. His neighbours describe him as unexceptional and decent.

His wife, contacted by Europe 1 radio, says he left to work this morning as normal. She says the family - they have three children - are religious in a regular kind of way. Nothing extreme.

And yet, this morning, he apparently switched from Mr Normal of Lyon to a jihadist fanatic.

His actions are straight from Islamic State. He beheaded a man, then apparently tried to blow up the factory. Was this an attempted suicide bid? If so, then that is a first in France. And an even worse portent.

Air Products, the owner of the factory where the attack took place, is a US chemical company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1940, it has 20,000 employees and operations in more than 50 countries. Its current chairman and chief executive is Iranian-born Seifi Ghasemi.

An emergency meeting of France's defence council is about to get under way at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

President Francois Hollande arrived back from Brussels just over an hour ago and will chair the meeting.

Le Dauphine Libere newspaper says that an operation is under way in the village of Saint-Priest, where the suspect is believed to live.

It says he lived there for the last six months with his partner and their three children.

APCopyright: AP

Police officers have cordoned off the area outside the factory and are standing guard as investigations take place.

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French President Francois Hollande has arrived at the Elysee Palace in Paris from Brussels ahead of an emergency security meeting at 15:30 local time (14:30 BST).

France's prime minister Manuel Valls tweets: "The blind horror and threat of terrorists spares no country. My thoughts are with the victim in Isere and the victims in Tunisia."

BFM TV says the decapitated man is the manager of a delivery company which owned the vehicle used in the attack.

The woman who says she is the suspect's wife went on to tell Europe 1: "I know him as my husband. We have a normal family life. He leaves for work, he comes home. I can't even get through to him.

"We are normal Muslims. We're observing Ramadan. We have three kids and a normal family life. Who can I call to give me more information, because I don't understand what's going on."

France's Europe 1 network say they have interviewed a woman who claims to be the suspect's wife.

"My heart is going to stop," she said. "I don't know what happened. They arrested him?" she asked. "He left for work at 07:00 - he is a delivery man. He didn't come back between mid-day and 14:00, I was expecting him home this afternoon.

"My sister-in-law told me to switch on the TV, and the news was on. And then she started to cry. It feels like my heart is going to stop," she said.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the the government's emergency Cobra committee is to meet later following the attacks in France and Tunisia. He said Britain was offering "our solidarity in fighting this evil of terrorism".

BBC Monitoring reports that Islamic State (IS) supporters on Twitter have been linking the attack in France to a recent threat made by IS spokesman Abu-Muhammad al-Adnani.

Three days ago, al-Adnani threatened US President Barack Obama and his "allies". He told them to await "setbacks and surprises".

IS supporters are also linking today's Tunisia and Kuwait attacks to that statement.

The attack was likely to have been inspired, rather than directed, by the activities of Islamic State jihadists.

The intelligence agencies are getting better at intercepting large plots but in the age of the internet, self-help manuals and self-starting radicalisation that people can do in their bedrooms, it is very difficult for the authorities to stop individual attacks like this.

French police are questioning multiple suspects believed to be connected to the attack.

Earlier, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed that a man named Yacine Sali had been arrested. The 35-year-old had previously been investigated for radicalism.

A grim detail has emerged that the head of the decapitated man was placed on the gate of the factory.

The body was found in a different location where the explosion took place.

Manuel Valls: Islamist terrorism has hit France again

EPACopyright: EPA

France Prime Minister Manuel Valls has announced that he would cut short a tour of Latin America to return to Paris.

Mr Valls told a press conference in Colombia that "Islamist terrorism has hit France again."

He said he would take part by telephone in an emergency meeting called by President Francois Hollande, then rush back to France, the AFP news agency reports.

Mr Valls has already ordered security to be tightened around "sensitive areas" of the country.

Jean-Jack Queyranne, President of the Rhône -Alpes Region: "The savagery struck again in Isère. We must unite our ranks to face with firmness and vigilance to fight terror."

Christophe Boudot, Lyon councillor: "They want to create a climate of psychosis, we must respond with great firmness."

Laurent Wauquiez, former French Secretary of State for European Affairs: "The State must protect the citizens against the terrorist threat that hit. The horror must not give in to fear."

German Foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier says his country stands "shoulder-to-shoulder with France in the defence of our free society against the blind hatred of terror".

As the story in France develops, details have also come in of separate attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait.

AFP/GettyCopyright: AFP/Getty

Marine Le Pen, the president of the National Front (FN), France's third largest political party, has released a statement demanding "firm and strong measures" to defeat Islamism.

"Big declarations must now stop. The marches, slogans and emotional speech must now give way to action. Nothing has been done to stop Islamic fundamentalism for years."

Our borders must be restored. All foreigners suspected of Islamic fundamentalism should be as soon expelled from the country," she added.

Here's an overview of where the attack took place.

BBCCopyright: BBC

AFPCopyright: AFP

The French Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, also gave more details about how the attacker was apprehended.

"After the crime was committed, the suspected culprit was neutralised by someone from the security forces of L'Isere who had arrived at the scene and who had a lot of courage and kept his cool and proceeded to put the individual out of action."

Local newspaper Dauphine Libere is reporting that a second person has been arrested.

They say the arrest happened at his home in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier - the town where the factory is located. They add that the man is believed to have driven a car back and forth outside the factory in the hours before the attack began.

EPACopyright: EPA

Former French president Nikolas Sarkozy said the attackers have "declared war against France, democracy, and civilisation itself".

In a statement he called on the government to raise the level of security in the country.

French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said the suspect's identity had not yet been fully verified. However, he told reporters outside the factory that it could be Yacine Sali, a man already known to the police.

He had reportedly been on a security watch list after being investigated in 2008 for radicalisation. He was never charged and has no criminal record.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweets: "I firmly condemn the attack carried out in Lyon. Barbarism will always be confronted by unity among democrats. Spain with France."

President Hollande provided a few more details of the attack in his press conference.

"This attack was carried out from a vehicle driven by one person, perhaps accompanied by another, which rammed its way at high speed into this establishment which contained bottles of gas."

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

French TV has been speaking to Thierry Gricourt who works close to the factory.

"We heard a fairly loud noise shortly before 10 o'clock. We didn't get too concerned as we're not far from the airport Saint Exupery so we thought it was an aeroplane passing by lower than usual.

And then several minutes later we saw a very large deployment of security forces - the police and fire engines, with lots of trucks deployed around our road. We can see that several roads are blocked with police officers at the corner of every road."

The owners of the factory, Air Products, have released a statement. They appear to confirm reports that the man killed was not an employee.

"We can confirm that an incident occurred at our facility in L'Isle-d'Abeau, France this morning.

Our priority at this stage is to take care of our employees, who have been evacuated from the site and all accounted for.

Emergency services are on site and have contained the situation. The site is secure. Our crisis and emergency response teams have been activated and are working closely with all relevant authorities.

Further information will be released as soon as it becomes available."

GV, London:

Email Message: It is a very sad and damaged society we are living in nowadays, this guy was saving lives and no actual BBC report coverage has been presented. However, BBC are showing breaking News today about a French person being decapitated! It's not right and I think this is what is fuelling rascial tension.. Both acts were wrong but only one was shown on 'breaking news' and it's still going on...

It is a very sad and damaged society we are living in nowadays, this guy was saving lives and no actual BBC report coverage has been presented. However, BBC are showing breaking News today about a French person being decapitated! It's not right and I think this is what is fuelling rascial tension.. Both acts were wrong but only one was shown on 'breaking news' and it's still going on...

EPACopyright: EPA

The president has now finished speaking and is leaving Brussels to return to France.

He finished his statement by calling for action and referring to January's Charlie Hebdo attacks.

"We all remember what happened before in our country… There is therefore a lot of emotion. But emotion cannot be the only response. [What is needed] is action, prevention and deterrence."

President Holland also confirmed that one person had died and two were injured.

He says that the "body was found decapitated with a inscription on it".

President Hollande is currently speaking in Brussels.

"It is a terrorist attack, there is no doubt about that," he said in a statement.

AFP / getty imagesCopyright: AFP / getty images

The first pictures from the factory are filtering through - they show a large police presence along with other emergency services.

Here's what we know so far:

• One person has been decapitated and another injured in the attack on a gas factory in south-eastern France.
• A man has been arrested by anti-terror police, officials say
• An Islamist flag was found at the scene, according to French media
• Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is said to be on his way to the scene

Welcome to our live page, covering the suspected Islamist attack on a factory near the French city of Lyon. Details are still emerging about the incident and we will bring you the latest as we get it.