A terrorist attack took place on 26 June 2015 in
Saint-Quentin-Fallavier
Saint-Quentin-Fallavier is a commune in the Isère department, and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in southeastern France.
Geography
Saint-Quentin Fallavier is located in Isère, at the boundary of the department of Rhône, along the A43 o ...
, near
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
, France, when a man, Yassin Salhi, decapitated his employer Hervé Cornara and drove his van into gas cylinders at a gas factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier near Lyon, France, which caused an explosion that injured two other people. Salhi was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder linked to terrorism. Three other people were questioned by the police but released without charge. Salhi committed suicide at
Fleury-Mérogis Prison
Fleury-Mérogis Prison (''Maison d'arrêt de Fleury-Mérogis'') is a prison in France, located in the town of Fleury-Mérogis, in the southern suburbs of Paris. With more than 4,100 prisoners, it is the largest prison in France. It is operated b ...
in December that year.
The attack occurred on the same day as several other Islamist terrorist attacks, which have subsequently been named the
2015 Ramadan attacks
On 26 June 2015, attacks occurred in France, Kuwait, Syria, Somalia, and Tunisia, one day following a deadly massacre in Syria. The day of attacks was dubbed "Bloody Friday" by Anglophone media and "Black Friday" (french: Vendredi Noir) among Fr ...
, though any relationship between the various incidents is disputed. French authorities believe that Salhi has links with the Islamist terrorist group the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ' ...
(ISIS). The attack occurred during heightened public fears over Islamist attacks in France, a few months after the
Île-de-France attacks in January 2015, including the
''Charlie Hebdo'' shooting.
Attack
At around 09:30
CEST CEST or cest may refer to:
* Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone
* Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory
* Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...
(07:30
UTC) on 26 June 2015, Yassin Salhi, a delivery driver, gained entrance to the grounds of an
Air Products
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is an American international corporation whose principal business is selling gases and chemicals for industrial uses. Air Products' headquarters is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pen ...
factory in
Saint-Quentin-Fallavier
Saint-Quentin-Fallavier is a commune in the Isère department, and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in southeastern France.
Geography
Saint-Quentin Fallavier is located in Isère, at the boundary of the department of Rhône, along the A43 o ...
near the city of
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
. He was driving a van with his dead 54-year-old employer, Hervé Cornara, inside it.
He had tricked Cornara into getting into the van earlier that day, after which Salhi knocked him unconscious and strangled him. He then decapitated Cornara just before reaching the factory. Salhi had made regular visits to the factory, so he was known to employees at the site.
He placed Cornara's severed head on a fence railing and planted two Jihadist flag banners alongside it. The head had a cloth thrown over it with the
Shahada
The ''Shahada'' (Arabic: ٱلشَّهَادَةُ , "the testimony"), also transliterated as ''Shahadah'', is an Islamic oath and creed, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of the Adhan. It reads: "I bear witness that there is n ...
written on it: "There is no god but Allah and
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
is his prophet." The headless body and a knife were found on the ground nearby. Salhi attempted to blow up the factory by ramming several gas cylinders, causing an explosion.
Two other people were injured in the process. Video surveillance footage showed that the perpetrator also tried to open canisters containing flammable chemicals before being subdued minutes later. He shouted "
Allahu Akhbar" as he met and was overpowered by firefighters responding to the scene. The perpetrator had also photographed himself with the slain victim and sent the image to at least one other person via
WhatsApp
WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
, a French man who later joined ISIL.
Perpetrator
Yassin Salhi (25 March 1980 – 22 December 2015) was reported as the primary attacker, although he may not have acted alone. French police opened a file on Salhi in 2006, over suspected links with a radical Salafist
The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generati ...
group, but it was not renewed in 2008. In 2012, he was involved in an anti-Semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
attack on a Jewish teenager; the attack took place on a train travelling from Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
to Lyon. At the time of the 2015 attack, he was believed to be living in Saint-Priest, with his wife and three children.
Six years prior to the attack, Salhi spent a year in Syria with his wife and children, claiming he was there to learn Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
. At the time of the attack, Salhi was also in regular contact with the French jihadist Sebastian Yunis, known to have left for Syria to join ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...
. Salhi claimed his reason for the attack was solely based on personal motives, saying a fight with his employer who fired him as well as a dispute with his wife pushed him to commit the attack. French authorities have linked him to ISIS.
Salhi's mother was Moroccan and his father, who died when Salhi was 16, was Algerian. Salhi grew up in Pontarlier
Pontarlier ( ; Latin: ''Ariolica'') is a commune and one of the two sub-prefectures of the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France near the Swiss border.
History
Pontarlier occupies the ancient Roman station of ...
, where he was tutored in Arabic by Amar Remimi, treasurer of the Philippe Grenier
Philippe Grenier (; 14 August 1865 – 25 March 1944) was a French politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Doubs from 1896 to 1898. He became a convert to Islam during a trip to French Algeria in 1894 and later t ...
mosque association. In the mid-2000s, Salhi met and was radicalized by Frédéric Jean Salvi, who had served time at the nearby prison in Besançon
Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerl ...
until 2001. Salvi himself had converted to Islam while in prison, where he then became known as "Grand Ali". Salvi attended the same mosque in Pontarlier as Salhi, where he at one point was expelled for challenging the imam during a sermon. A coworker at the transport company, Abdel Karim, stated that Salhi had once asked him his opinion of Daesh
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ' ...
. After hearing Karim's opinion, Salhi would no longer speak with him other than to say hello and goodbye.
According to his lawyer, Salhi had been earlier reprimanded by Cornara for dropping equipment from a pallet, and had attacked his former boss for personal reasons.
On 30 June, Salhi was charged with murder and attempted murder linked to terrorism, as well as destruction by means of an explosive substance.
On 22 December 2015, Salhi committed suicide in Fleury-Mérogis Prison
Fleury-Mérogis Prison (''Maison d'arrêt de Fleury-Mérogis'') is a prison in France, located in the town of Fleury-Mérogis, in the southern suburbs of Paris. With more than 4,100 prisoners, it is the largest prison in France. It is operated b ...
by hanging himself with his bed sheets on the bars of his cell.
Related arrests
Another man was arrested hours after the attack at his home in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier. He was believed to be driving around the factory in a Ford Fusion car before the attack in a suspected reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
attempt. On 26 June, he was released without charge.
Salhi's wife and sister were also arrested later that day. They were released without charge two days later. Earlier, his wife gave a radio interview, in which she denied the alleged terror links to the family.
Victim
The decapitated victim, Hervé Cornara, was the 54-year-old manager of a transport company based in Chassieu
Chassieu (; frp, Chassiô) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France.
Population
Twin town
Chassieu has been twinned with Coleshill, England, near Birmingham since 1983.
See also
* Eurexpo
...
, about 20 miles from the attack. He was married and had a son. He had employed Salhi as a delivery truck driver starting in March.
Air Products
The company Air Products is a United States chemical company based in Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them:
* Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California
* Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County
* Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. Its president and CEO since July 2014, Seifi Ghasemi, is an Iranian-born Shia Muslim. In April 2015 the company won a contract to build, own and operate the world's largest industrial gas complex in Jazan, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. Air Products officials said security had been increased at its operations around the world as a precautionary measure. The company has facilities in more than 50 countries employing more than 21,000 people.
Domestic reaction
The President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...
, François Hollande
François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...
, left an EU summit in Brussels to return to France. Hollande said, "The attack bears the hallmarks of a terrorist attack." The French Minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
, Bernard Cazeneuve
Bernard Guy Georges Cazeneuve (; born 2 June 1963) is a French politician and lawyer who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 December 2016 to 15 May 2017. A member of the Socialist Party, he represented Manche’s 5th constituency in the ...
, was also reported to be traveling to the scene.
Other Islamist attacks
The attack in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier was one of five Islamist attacks that took place on the same day around the world, including in Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
, Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
, Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
, and Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. These attacks came three days after an audio message by ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...
senior leader Abu Mohammad al-Adnani
Taha Sobhi Falaha ( ar, طٰهٰ صُبْحِيِّ فَلَاحَةٍ, Ṭāhā Ṣobḥī Falāḥa; 1977 – 30 August 2016), known as Abu Muhammad al-Adnani al-Shami ( ar, أَبُو مُحَمَّدٍ ٱلْعَدْنَانِيُّ ٱلشَ ...
was released that encouraged militant sympathizers to attack one year after ISIS declared themselves a state, during the month of Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
.
See also
* 2015 Ramadan attacks
On 26 June 2015, attacks occurred in France, Kuwait, Syria, Somalia, and Tunisia, one day following a deadly massacre in Syria. The day of attacks was dubbed "Bloody Friday" by Anglophone media and "Black Friday" (french: Vendredi Noir) among Fr ...
* 2016 Normandy church attack
* List of terrorist incidents, 2015
This is a list of terrorist incidents which took place in 2015, including attacks by violent non-state actors for political motives. Note that terrorism related to drug wars and cartel violence is not included in these lists. Ongoing military conf ...
* Vehicular assault as a terrorist tactic
* List of Islamist terrorist attacks
The following is a list of Islamist terrorist attacks.
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Quentin-Fallavier attack
2015 murders in France
History of Lyon
ISIL terrorist incidents in France
Islamism-related beheadings
June 2015 crimes in Europe
Terrorist incidents in France in 2015
Terrorist incidents involving vehicular attacks
June 2015 events in France
Vehicular rampage in France