
At least three people were killed and 13 others injured when a gunman opened fire at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, northeastern France on Tuesday evening.

Police identified the gunman as Cherif Chekatt, a Strasbourg-born 29-year-old who has a criminal record and is a designated 'threat to the state' on the security services' watchlist.

A manhunt is now underway for Chekatt, who managed to flee the scene in a hijacked taxi after being wounded in a shootout with soldiers, and President Emmanuel Macron has raised France's terror level.

The carnage unfolded just after 8pm local time outside the historic Christmas market in Strasbourg's central square, Place Kleber, one of the busiest areas in the city, which is also home to the European Parliament.

Four of those injured are still fighting for their lives, with six others seriously hurt, the mayor of Strasbourg, said on Wednesday morning. Witnesses described one of the victims as a a male South-east Asian tourist who had been shot in the head.

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Hundreds of soldiers and special forces operatives have been called in to take part in the manhunt following the shooting at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday night

Hunt: Members of the French National Police's Research and Intervention Brigade are seen during their search for Cherif Chekatt in Strasbourg on Wednesday morning

Passers-by tend to victims in the immediate aftermath of the attack on a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, last night

Five people have been arrested in connection with the Strasbourg attack, and are being questioned in relation to 'previous affairs' linked to Chekatt, Laurent Nunez, secretary of state for the Interior Ministry, said today.

Chekatt was identified by DNA and CCTV images, sources told French media. Police had initially gone to his home earlier on Tuesday to arrest him over an unrelated armed robbery, but found him missing. Reports said grenades were discovered at his home.

Checkatt was imprisoned in Germany up until 2017, after being convicted of robbery by a court in the southern German city of Singen.

‘After serving his sentence he was deported to France, where he was technically under surveillance,’ said an investigating source.

‘He had served previous prison sentences in France too, including two years in 2011 for stabbing a teenager. There had also been drug convictions. He was well known in Islamist circles in Strasbourg and for being further radicalised in prison.’

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. A soldier was slightly injured by a ricochet from a shot by the gunman.

French President Emmanuel Macron is pictured leaving an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry in Paris last night

An emergency worker was pictured running with a stretcher towards the scene of the shooting, which killed at least three

A police officer stands guard near an area of Strasbourg where the gunman was thought to be located after of the attack

The map shows the area where the attack took place, while the Christmas market is shown in a file picture before the shooting

Witnesses said it took up to 45 minutes for paramedics to arrive after the shooting and they were left tending to victims alone

Local authorities had advised residents to stay indoors and avoid 'the area close to the police station' in the city

Images showed people running away from the square where the shots were fired and army officials soon swooped the streets

WHO IS CHERIF CHEKATT: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR - Identified as Cherif Chekatt, who was born in Strasbourg in February 1989. - The suspect was subject of a 'fiche S', which is used by police to flag someone who is considered a threat to national security. Although not grounds for arrest, a fiche S (which stands for state security) allows surveillance. Others who have been flagged under the system include Amedy Coulibaly who killed four hostages at a siege in a Kosher supermarket in Paris in 2015. - Convicted of robbery in Germany in 2016 and sentenced to two years and three months in prison for breaking into a dental practice and a pharmacy. The German robberies took place in Mainz, near Frankfurt, in 2012 and in Engen, near the Swiss border, in 2016. - Singen court verdict says he was also sentenced to prison in France in 2008 and in Basel, Switzerland in 2013 for various robberies. News agency dpa reported that he was deported to France in 2017. - Court verdict also said he grew up with six siblings in the city, worked for local authorities after leaving school and had been jobless since 2011. - BFMTV said the suspect was known to be part of Islamist networks in Strasbourg and was a 'repeat offender' and a 'delinquent'. - His home was subject of a search on Tuesday morning as part of investigations into a robbery. He was not in but grenades were found. Advertisement

The driver of the hijacked taxi, who escaped unharmed, told police Chekatt was injured during his escape

Some 350 people, including police, troops and helicopters were on the heels of the attacker who had 'sowed terror' in the city, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said.

Castaner also said 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.

France's security forces, already on high alert after a series of terror attacks since 2015, are particularly stretched at the moment 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, told AFP. 'People were running everywhere.'

He said he had seen three people injured on the ground only a few metres (feet) 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.'

'We heard several shots, three perhaps, and we saw people running,' one witness told AFP, asking not to be named.

'One of them fell down, I don't know whether it was because she was tripped up or if she was hit,' the witness said.

President Emmanuel Macron expressed on Twitter the solidarity of the whole nation after holding a crisis meeting with cabinet officials in Paris.

Several areas neighbouring the Christmas market were sealed off on Tuesday night and residents were being told to stay indoors.

Many people took refuge in local restaurants and bars which pulled down their shutters.

'We let everyone inside, down into the wine cellar. They're locked in there,' local restaurant owner Mouad, 33, told AFP.

A police source, again speaking on condition of anonymity, said security forces had opened fire in an area of the city where the suspect was thought to be hiding.

The source did not give the address and it was unclear if the shooter had been located.

Specialist anti-terror prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident in Strasbourg, which lies on the border with Germany.

A police officer guards the scene near the Christmas market shooting. Dozens of officers were deployed to find the suspect

Authorities work at a makeshift emergency services base after a deadly shooting in Strasbourg

The French Interior Ministry has called on the public to remain indoors following the shooting at the Christmas market

Several residents of the city have been detained in recent years for trying to reach jihadist groups in Syria, or have been arrested upon their return.

'Shocked and saddened by the terrible attack in Strasbourg. My thoughts are with all of those affected and with the French people,' British Prime Minister Theresa May wrote on Twitter.

The Strasbourg-based European Parliament was also on lockdown, with MEPs, staff and journalists unable to leave the building.

In a parliament bar usually reserved for MEPs, EU commissioners, powerful legislators and staffers huddled in small groups waiting for developments.

'Our first thought was for colleagues who had already made it to the centre of town, who are safe,' Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt told AFP. 'Now we just wait.'

A police car is seen stationed outside market entrance, which shows Strasbourg branding itself the 'Capital of Christmas'

Basketball supporters were held up at the Rhenus Sport stadium in Strasbourg, eastern France following the shooting

Media are seen near to the site of the shooting in Strasbourg last night. Much of the city remains on lockdown this morning

Staff at the European Parliament building (above) wait to receive news on when they can leave the building after police launched a manhunt for the suspect

'We are ok!' Revellers took shelter in the nearby Galeries Lafayette after the shooting began

The Christmas market in Strasbourg and the city's illuminations are an annual attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of people.

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 Christmas market chalets.

Emergency service teams standing in the Neudorf area following the shooting, which has left several people critically injured

A French police van rushed next to the shooting site at the Christmas market in Strasbourg, the gunman has been on the run all evening

Police, firefighters and emergency services intervened after the shooting and the streets appeared clear of tourists

Officers have secured the area surrounding the Christmas market following the shooting which took place early evening on Tuesday 11 December

Video images from the scene show people outside of cosmetics store Kiko following the shooting

A police officer is seen securing the street surrounding the area following the shooting where the gunman had been shot by a soldier

Emergency services on the scene in Strasbourg, France, following the incident where four people have died

Three years after groups of jihadists gunned down and blew up 130 people in Paris on November 13, 2015, French counter-terror officials say their focus has shifted.

Rather than coordinated attacks, their main concern is attacks by 'lone wolves' - self-radicalised individuals acting without links to terror groups such as Islamic State.

Most recently a 20-year-old Chechnya-born man went on a knife rampage in central Paris last May, killing one man and injuring four other people on a Saturday night.

A total of 246 people have been killed in terror attacks in France since 2015, according to an AFP toll.

The French military (above) has now been called in to patrol the streets surrounding the Christmas market

The surrounding streets close to the Christmas market seem to be lined with emergency services

Deputy mayor of the city, Alain Fontanel tweeted: ' Thanks to all for staying at home until the situation has been clarified'

Sinn Fein politician Martina Anderson, a Member of the European Parliament representing Northern Ireland, tweeted: 'We were in the centre of Strasbourg town when gun shots went off.'