French attack suspect watched for radicalization 9 years ago: official

The suspect arrested in connection with Friday's attack on a gas company in southeast France's Isere had been on watch list for radicalization in 2006 and having links with Islamist movements, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Friday.

"The identification of the attacker is underway. But we know that it could be Yassin Salhi," he said.

Without a criminal record, the man "was the subject of watch for his radicalization but was not known to be linked with terrorist actors," the minister added.

"This person was the subject of an "S" (security) file for radicalization in 2006, which wasn't renewed in 2008," Cazeneuve was quoted as saying by local media.

French authorities confirmed that a decapitated body was found at the explosion site where two men rammed a car into the gas containers of a U.S. gas company in Isere.

At least two people were wounded. A flag of Islamic State (IS) was found aside the beheaded body.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels where he attend a European Council meeting, French President Francois Hollande said "the attack was of a terrorist nature since a body was discovered, decapitated and with inscriptions."

Hollande cut talks with his European partners on Greece default to return home and meet concerned ministers and military chiefs on the fresh assault.

Isere attack is the second such incidents that clouded the calm in France, after a slew of terror attacks in January which started with a deadly assault on a French satirical magazine that used to be targeted for its controversial depictions of the Prophet Mohammad. Endit