Deputy crown prince sends condolences to France over attack

JEDDAH: Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, called France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Sunday and expressed his condolences on the death of a French citizen in a terror attack near Lyon.
The prince wished a speedy recovery for those injured in the attack on Friday.
The man who attempted to blow up a French chemical plant on Friday has admitted killing his manager beforehand, a source close to the investigation said Sunday, as police linked the suspect to a militant now in Syria.
Yassin Salhi, 35, told detectives he had killed Hervé Cornara in a parking area before arriving at the plant in Saint Quentin-Fallavier, 30 km south of Lyon, where he tried in vain to cause a major explosion.
Police found the 54-year-old victim's decapitated body and head, framed by Islamic inscriptions, at the plant, which is owned by the US firm Air Products. There were no other casualties. Examination of one of Salhi's mobile phones revealed that he had taken a picture of himself with the severed head before his arrest and sent the image to a Canadian phone number. Canadian authorities said Sunday they were assisting the investigation.