France raises terror alert level after Isere attacks

French President Francois Hollande on Friday raised the security alert system Vigipirat to attack alert level in Rhone-Alpe region, southeast France after one man was beheaded and two injured in a gas company explosion.

France's anti-terrorism plan would be at its maximum level for the next three days in the southeastern towns. Additional security forces will be deployed at railway stations, industrial sites and other sensitive sites, Hollande said after heading a restraint defense meeting.

"We need to remain vigilant (but) we must not fall into any hasty or panicked measures. We must do what we need to do to defend our citizens while also protecting freedoms," Hollande he added.

Earlier on Friday two men rammed a car into the gas containers of a U.S. gas company triggering an explosion.

Two other people were "slightly injured", Hollande said adding the 50-year-old man found beheaded at the site was "murdered in a cowardly manner."

According to media reports, the victim was the manager of the presumed attack perpetrator who is identified as Yasin Salhi.

Without a criminal record, the suspect "was the subject of watch for his radicalization but was not known to be linked with terrorist actors," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

"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.

In a statement, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said a probe was opened for murder and attempted murder in an organized group in relation to terrorism, adding that anti-terrorism police was investigating the attack. Endit