Over 55 killed in multiple terror strikes

Attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait stoke fears of spreading jihadi influence

Paris/ Tunis/ KuwaiT City, June 26: A man was beheaded and several others injured on Friday in a suspected Islamist attack on a gas factory in Isere, in the Rhone-Alps region of France, which was declared a "terrorist" act by President Francois Hollande, media reports said.

Several small explosive devices were also set off at the Air Products factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near the French city of Lyon, and the alleged attacker was said to have been carrying an Islamist flag, which was found nearby, Xinhua reported citing sources.

One person who had no ID papers and has refused to speak to anti-terrorism police was arrested, officials said.

Hollande, who was in Brussels for a European Council meeting, declared it a "terrorist" attack and was returning to Paris to head an emergency meeting of the security committee following the deadly attack.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls has ordered tight security tionwide.

I another incident, at least 27 people were killed in an armed attack on a Tunisian hotel in the popular resort of Sousse, an interior ministry official said.

A security operation was going on inside the hotel, according to ministry spokesperson Mohamed Ali Aroui, Xinhua said citing TAP news agency.

The city of Sousse is one of the most prominent tourist destitions in the country.

Tunisia has been on high alert since March when gunmen attacked the Bardo museum in Tunis, killing a group of foreign tourists in one of the worst attacks in a decade in the North African country.

In Kuwait, at least 25 people were killed and at least 202 others wounded on Friday in a suicide bomb attack on a Shia mosque which the Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for, media reports said.

The blast rocked the Imam Al-Sadeq Mosque, located in the busy neighbourhood of al-Sawabir of the capital city, Xinhua reported citing the official Kuwait News Agency.

Kuwait's interior ministry said that 25 people were killed and at least 202 others were injured in the blast, which occurred when a large number of Muslims were offering Friday prayers inside the Mosque.

Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah visited the mosque, located just a few buildings away from the country's interior ministry.

An emergency session of parliament has also been called, an Al Jazeera report said.

Meanwhile, Saad al-Ajmi, Kuwait's former information minister, told Al Jazeera that the attack was a reminder that no country was "immune from terrorism".