Market gunman still on the loose
THREE KILLED IN FRANCE ATTACK
A GUNMAN killed at least three people and wounded a dozen others at the famed Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg yesterday before fleeing the scene, authorities said.
A manhunt was under way after the killer opened fire about 8pm (local time) on one of the city’s busiest streets, sending crowds of evening shoppers fleeing for safety.
Soldiers patrolling the area as part of regular anti-terror operations exchanged fire with the suspect and wounded him, but could not stop him escaping, police sources said.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that the gunman had killed three people and wounded 12. Earlier, Mayor Roland Ries had given a toll of “four dead and a dozen wounded”.
Castaner also said that France had raised its security alert level to “emergency attack” with “the implementation of reinforced border controls and tightened controls on all Christmas markets in France to avoid the risk of a copycat” attack.
The gunman has been identified and was on a watchlist of suspected extremists, a statement from local security services said.
France’s security forces, already on high alert after a series of terror attacks since 2015, are particularly stretched due to anti-government protests that have swept the country.
“I heard shooting and then there was pandemonium,” one witness, who gave his name as Fatih, said. “People were running everywhere.”
He said he had seen three people injured on the ground only a few metres from the giant Christmas tree in the centre of the city.
Shortly after the shooting, lines of police vehicles and ambulances streamed into the market area, under festive lights declaring the city the “capital of Christmas”.
President Emmanuel Macron held a crisis meeting with cabinet officials in Paris shortly after midnight.
Two separate security sources, on condition of anonymity, said the shooter was believed to be a 29-year-old from the city, whose name was given as Cherif, and who was set to be arrested yesterday morning. He was being investigated over an attempted murder, one of the sources said.
Several areas neighbouring the Christmas market were sealed off after the shooting and residents were being told to stay indoors. Many people took refuge in local restaurants and bars, which pulled down their shutters.
Specialist anti-terror prose- cutors have opened an investigation into the incident in Strasbourg, which lies on the border with Germany.
Security has been stepped up in recent years after a series of attacks in France by Islamist gunmen and the Strasbourg market was long considered a possible target.
In 2016, a 23-year-old Tunisian killed 12 and injured 48 others when he ploughed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
Special anti-terror army units have been deployed in Strasbourg, and soldiers and armed police are regularly seen patrolling among the 300 wooden market chalets.
A total of 246 people have been killed in terror attacks in France since 2015, according to AFP.