There are reports of three terrorist attacks on three continents on Friday: One or more attackers stormed an American-owned chemical plant in France, where they decapitated one person and unsuccessfully tried to blow up the factory; at least one gunman opened fire in a beachside resort area in Tunisia, killing 27 people, including an unknown number of foreign tourists; and a suicide bomber attacked a Shiite Muslim mosque in the capital of Kuwait, killing more than 10 people.
Authorities have not suggested that the three are related, although the attacks in France and Kuwait both have apparent ties to Islamic terrorists, while the situation in Tunisia was said to still be ongoing. Here’s more information on all three.
France, via Reuters:
A decapitated body covered in Arabic writing was found at a U.S. gas company in southeast France on Friday, police sources and French media said, after an assailant rammed a car into the premises, triggering an explosion. The attacker survived the blast and was arrested. The identity of the beheaded victim was not clear but French media said it was a manager of a local transport company, on the site for a delivery. … It was not known whether the victim, so far the only known fatality in the incident that also injured two people, was decapitated before or after the car smashed into the building, or whether the victim had been on site at the time of the attack, or killed elsewhere.
Tunisia, via BBC News:
At least 27 people, mostly foreigners, have been killed in an attack on a beach near two tourist hotels in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse, according to the interior ministry. Officials say one gunman has been shot dead and another is being pursued. … Tunisia has been on high alert since March when militants killed 22 people, mainly foreign tourists, in an attack on a museum in the capital Tunis. The interior ministry told the BBC “a terrorist attack” was ongoing.
Kuwait, via the Associated Press:
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a deadly explosion that struck a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital after Friday prayers. … The attack was claimed by an IS affiliate calling itself the Najd Province, the same group that claimed a pair of bombing attacks on Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. Friday’s explosion struck the Imam Sadiq Mosque in the neighborhood of al-Sawabir, a residential and shopping district of Kuwait City. Paramedics on the scene said at least two people were killed, but the death toll was expected to rise. One eyewitness told The Associated Press that he saw at least 10 dead bodies.
We’ll update with more information when it becomes available.
