French Syria jihadist admits to involvement in Lyon factory beheading

A French jihadist fighting in Syria has admitted to involvement in the attack on a chemical plant near Lyon during which Yassin Salhi beheaded his boss, according to his mother. Salhi sent two gruesome selfies to Yunes-Sébastien V-Z, who later told his mother that he is "one of the causes" of the terror attack.

French police take a woman and child out of the building where Salhi lived AFP

The mother, identified as “Nejma”, told Europe 1 radio that after the attack Friday, she sent her son a message asking if he knew the man who perpetrated this “horrible act”.

He replied that it was “one of his brothers”. 

That led Nejma to conclude that her son was definitely part of the Islamic State (IS) armed group.

“That’s how I knew that he knew him [Salhi] well," she said. "I was really shocked. I don't need to tell you what state that put me in."

Salhi has told investigators that the attack and murder were a personal matter after a fell out with his boss, Hervé Cornara, whom he beheaded, sending selfies of himself posing with the head and decapitated body and two home-made IS flags to Yunes-Sébastien V-Z.

Last week police discovered that Yunes-Sébastien V-Z asked the IS leadership for permission to made them public for propaganda purposes.

Nejma said Wednesday that her son left to go to Syria in November 2014 after telling their family that he was moving to Brussells with his wife and daughter.

“Yunes, if you can hear me, return to your senses," she pleaded with her son during the interview. "This is not like you, you are being bamboozled. You used to be smart. When I ask you questions you repeat things like a parrot. You're not thinking for yourself. You are in a cult. It is a cult. That is not Islam. They are barbarians. You said so yourself."

Despite Salhi's claim that he was acting for personal reasons, prosecutor François Molins  said on Tuesday that he was believed that act had a "terrorist motive".

"The one does not exclude the other and the choice to kill someone against whom he held a grudge does not exclude a terrorist motive," he told the media.

Salhi has been charged with murder and links to a terrorist group.