French attacker denies religious aim
A man who beheaded his boss in France has denied any religious motivation, investigative sources said yesterday, muddying efforts to pin down the reasons for an attack which bore the hallmarks of a jihadist act.
Yassin Salhi, 35, on Sunday confessed to decapitating his employer and pinning his severed head to the fence of a gas factory in eastern France in a macabre display that included two Islamic flags.
However according to a source close to the investigation, "denies any religious motivation to his act".
"He hasn't explained" why he attached the head to the fence, or shouted out "Allahu Akbar"(God is greatest) as firefighters overpowered him as he attempted to open bottles of acetone in a warehouse at the factory, said the source on condition of anonymity.
While the attacker apparently denies any Islamist motivation, police discovered he had sent a gruesome selfie with the severed head to a number in Canada believed to belong to a French jihadist thought to be in Syria.
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