An attacker carrying an Islamist flag killed one person and injured several others on Friday at a gas factory in eastern France, according to a legal source. A man suspected of carrying out the deadly attack has been arrested, a legal source said.

The suspected attacker entered the factory and set off several small explosive devices, the source said. A decapitated body was found nearby the factory, another source said.

"According to the initial findings of the enquiry, one or several individuals on board a vehicle, drove into the factory. An explosion then took place," said one of the sources.

"The decapitated body of a person was found nearby the factory but we do not yet know whether the body was transported to the place or not," added this source, adding that a "flag with Arabic writing on it was found on the scene."

Heightened security measures

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls ordered heightened security measures at "sensitive sites" near the gas factory that was attacked in eastern France.

Valls, who is on an official trip to South America, asked Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to head to Saint-Quentin Fallavier, the site of the attack, the premier's entourage said.

The attack came nearly six months after the extremist attacks in and around Paris that killed 17 people in January that started with a shooting at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he would go "immediately" to the scene, his office said

Source: KUNA