French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has warned that France faces more terror attacks after Friday’s killing in which a suspected Islamist pinned the severed head of his 54-year-old boss on a gas factory’s gates. The latest killing came nearly six months after Islamist attacks left 17 dead in and around Paris, starting with the attack at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
AFP reports that speaking yesterday on a flight from Bogotá, Colombia, Vall predicted the attack will create tension in France, which house’s Western Europe’s largest Muslim population. Saying it “will be exploited” he added:
“It’s difficult for a society to live for years under the threat of attack. The question is not… if there will be another attack, but when.”
Following the killing President Francois Hollande ordered security in the region to be tightened to the highest possible level. Residents of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, the town where Friday’s attack occurred, have expressed their shock. One employee of a business near the gas factory target told BMFTV:
“This is a small town and a large industrial zone. There’s never been any concern in the region. We’re all surprised.”
Europe has been on high alert for “lone wolf” attacks by supporters of Islamic State (ISIS) for several months. IS urges its followers to strike wherever they can. Of particular concern is the fact that France and several other European countries have seen hundreds of citizens leaving to fight alongside jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq. The fear is that some of those fighters could return as trained fighters prepared for domestic terror attacks.
The Algemeiner reports the Israeli Minister of Immigration and Absorption, Ze’ev Elkin, called on all French Jews to ‘’come home’’ to Israel where they will be absorbed with “open arms”, adding:
“Anti-Semitism is growing, terrorism is rising and according to reports ISIS is committing murder in broad daylight…The absorption staff at Ben Gurion International Airport are expected to work overtime this summer.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called on French Jews to move to Israel earlier this year, also commented on the latest attacks:
“The brutal murders in France, Tunisia and Kuwait again underscore that the enlightened world is struggling against dark forces. The fight against the murderous terrorism of extremist Islam requires unity, the beginning of which is the unequivocal condemnation of the murderers and those who support them.”