Suspect Sent Selfie With Decapitated Victim – French Prosecutor

A man on France's terror watch list shot selfies with the decapitated body of his boss before launching an attempted suicide attack at a U.S.-owned chemical factory, a prosecutor said Tuesday at a press briefing.

Those photos made with suspect Yassin Salhi's phone may become part of a social media propaganda campaign for ISIS, said Paris prosecutor François Molins, whose office handles anti-terrorism cases throughout France.

Authorities said they located phone messages from Salhi's friend in Syria that confirmed receipt of two photos. The friend apparently told relatives he planned to ask the Islamist militant organization for permission to disseminate the pictures, Molins said.

Salhi will be investigated on terrorism-related charges though he told police he acted for personal reasons — conflict with his boss and tensions with his wife, Molins said.

"The beheading, the sinister staging, the willingness to provoke an explosion in a sensitive site, sending pictures as a trophy for his crime to a correspondent in Syria — all this causes a shock, which of course gravely disturbs public order through intimidation and terror," the prosecutor said.
- CNN