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French police "foiled terror attacks" this week, French President Francois Hollande announced Wednesday, a day after a fire broke out in a petrochemical plant in southern France.
"This week, we have been warned of terrorist acts that could have been produced," Hollande said during a visit to the southern city of Marseille with visiting Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Hollande said more details on the foiled attacks would be presented Thursday.
Asked about the explosion which hit a petrochemical facility near Marseilles airport on Bastille Day, the president promised "to do everything to find out the circumstances of what happened," adding "the perpetrators would be hunted, found and sentenced."
On Tuesday, simultaneous fires broke out in LyonDellBasell oil refinery in the town of Berre l'Etang after two tanks, 500 meters apart from each other and filled with chemicals, collided.
Speaking earlier to French lawmakers, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve suspected "criminal activity" was behind the fire.
"First indications show we are dealing with a criminal act, but no motive has been established," he said.
The explosion came after a suspect last month beheaded his boss and tried to blow up an industrial gas plant in Isere, southeast France.
After the attack, the French government raised the anti-terrorism alert to maximum level in southeastern towns and deployed additional security forces to protect industrial sites. Enditem
