Terrified families attending one of the world’s most famous Christmas markets fled for their lives as a gunman — who is still at large — opened fire on a crowd.

Police have confimed that four people have died in the horrific mass shooting so far.

Disturbing details of the mass shooting are emerging from France’s east where the guman sprayed bullets into the massive crowd at Place Kleber, one of the central squares of Strasbourg, which hosts a famous Christmas market attended by millions every year.

Police say officers have exhanged fire with the gunman — who had been wounded by soldiers near the Christmas market where the shooting took place.

Cops have identified the suspect as Strasbourg-born Chekatt Cherif, 29, who was on the country’s terror watchlist after fears he’d radicalised.

Police raided his home earlier in the day after a failed armed robbery and attempted murder. They found grenades inside.

Four people have been confirmed dead and at least 11 people have been injured in the shooting so far — and police say the gunman is still at large.

Seven of the injured are said to be in a serious condition.

Images from the scene show police officers, police vehicles and barricades surrounding the sparkling lights of the market.

#Strasburg

Chérif Chekatt, 29, French national, is the suspect of tonight’s Strasburg terror attack, in which 4 killed.

According to french sources,

he escaped police raid on his home Tuesday that reportedly uncovered grenades. pic.twitter.com/jBrBIYylm0 — Nervana Mahmoud (@Nervana_1) December 11, 2018

A shopkeeper told French television network BFM TV: “There were gun shots and people running everywhere. It lasted about 10 minutes.”

A witness in France has told the BBC that one of the people shot and killed in the city of Strasbourg was a Thai tourist who suffered a head wound and didn’t respond to efforts to revive him.

One witness, Peter Fritz, told the broadcaster he heard gunfire and found a person who had been shot, lying on a bridge. He said he tried to resuscitate him but the man died.

RT PrisonPlanet: RT BreakingNLive: DEVELOPING: Situation in central Strasbourg, France remains active as gunman/gunman is/are on the run after numerous people were shot at a Christmas Market. Reports of up to 5 people shot.pic.twitter.com/iCceck4fwM — Parsival2112 (@Parsival2112) December 11, 2018

UPDATE: One dead, six injured in gunshot attack in Strasbourg, gunman on the run - French police sources pic.twitter.com/TKKjsKoet7 — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) December 11, 2018

A local journalist, Bruno Poussard, described the terrifying scenes on Twitter. He wrote there had been a dozen shots fired on his street in the city centre - one or two to begin with, then in bursts.

France’s Interior Ministry confirmed a “serious public security incident” in the city and warned residents to stay indoors.

Security officials have cordoned off the area and trams have been stopped, according to reports.

Strasbourg deputy mayor Alain Fontanel tweeted: “Shooting in downtown Strasbourg. Thank you all for staying home while waiting for a clarification of the situation.”

Siegfried Muresan, European Parliament member, also based in Strasbourg, said the entire area was in lockdown.

Strasbourg’s famous market is set up around the city’s cathedral during the Christmas period and becomes a major gathering place.

The European Parliament is completely locked down following shootings in #Strasbourg city centre. Nobody gets in or out.

Inside the Parliament the plenary session continues. pic.twitter.com/XJ6ZgkUc08 — Siegfried Muresan (@SMuresan) December 11, 2018

It wasn’t immediately clear if the market was the target of the attack or if there was any link to terrorism. However, the prefect of the Strasbourg region says the gunman had been flagged as a suspected extremist.

And, France has been hit by several extremist attacks, including the 2015 Paris shootings, which killed 130 people and wounded hundreds, and a truck attack in Nice that killed dozens in 2016.

Some Strasbourg residents have reported on social media that they heard gunfire in some parts of the city center.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe tweeted that “the situation is still underway, priority is given to security forces and rescuers.” President Emmanuel Macron has adjourned a meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday night to be able to monitor the events, his office said.

Place Kleber hosts an annual Christmas market, which is known for its grand Christmas tree. It attracts millions of tourist every year.

The shooting comes at a time when French security fores are stretched after more than three weeks of anti-government demonstrations.

Nearly 90,000 police were deployed on Saturday for the fourth round of protests by so-called “yellow vests” which led to violence in many cities.

It comes two years after a truck was deliberately driven into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured.

Strasbourg, about 500km east of Paris, is the seat of the European Parliament and on the border with Germany.

DEADLY TERROR ATTACKS IN FRANCE

More than 245 people have been killed in jihadist attacks across France since the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shootings.

2018

May 12: A knifeman shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) is shot dead by police in central Paris after he kills one person and injures four, prompting a terror probe.

The French national born in the Russian republic of Chechnya was on the so-called “S file” of people suspected of radicalised views who could pose security risks, though he did not have a criminal record.

March 23: Gunman Radouane Lakdim kills four people in the southern towns of Trebes and Carcassonne, including policeman Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame who is hailed as a hero for taking the place of a hostage.

Lakdim is shot dead by police after a stand-off.

2017

October 1: A 29-year-old Tunisian cries “Allah Akbar” and kills two young women with a knife at the main train station in the southern city of Marseille.

Ahmed Hanachi is shot dead by soldiers on patrol. His attack is claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

April 20: A 39-year-old ex-convict shoots dead an on-duty policeman and wounds two others on Paris’ Champs-Elysees avenue.

Gunman Karim Cheurfi is killed by police and a note praising IS is found next to his body, with the group claiming responsibility.

2016

July 26: Two teenagers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest in front of five worshippers at his church in the western town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both aged 19, are killed by police. The murder is claimed by the IS. The teenagers had sworn allegiance to the group in a video.

July 14: A Tunisian ploughs a truck through a large crowd gathered for Bastille Day fireworks on the Promenade des Anglais in the Mediterranean city of Nice. The attack kills 86 people and injures more than 400.

The driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, is shot dead by security forces. IS claims responsibility.

June 13: Larossi Abballa, 25, uses a knife to kill a police officer and his partner at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris, in front of their young son.

Abballa is killed by a police SWAT team, but has already claimed the murders on social media in the name of IS.

2015

November 13: France is hit by the worst terror attacks in its history. IS jihadists armed with assault rifles and explosives strike outside a France-Germany football match at the national stadium, Paris cafes, and the Bataclan concert hall in a coordinated assault that leaves 130 people dead and more than 350 wounded.

August 21: Passengers prevent a bloodbath on a high-speed Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris, tackling a man who opened fire on travellers. He was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol and a box-cutter. The gunman is identified as 25-year-old Moroccan national Ayoub El Khazzani, known to intelligence services for links to radical Islam.

June 26: Frenchman Yassin Salhi, 35, kills and beheads his boss and displays the severed head, surrounded by two Islamic flags, on the fence of a gas plant in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in southeastern France.

He tries to blow up the factory, but is arrested. He commits suicide in his jail cell.

April 19: Sid Ahmed Ghlam, an Algerian IT student, is arrested on suspicion of killing a woman who was found shot dead in her car, and of planing an attack on a church in the Paris suburb of Villejuif. Prosecutors say they found documents about Al-Qaeda and IS at his home, and that he had been in touch with a suspected jihadist in Syria about an attack on a church.

February 3: A knife-wielding man attacks three soldiers guarding a Jewish community centre in Nice. The 30-year-old assailant, Moussa Coulibaly, is arrested. In custody, he expresses his hatred for France, the police, the military and Jews.

January 7-9: Two men armed with Kalashnikov rifles storm the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo killing 12 people. A policewoman is killed just outside Paris the following day, while a gunman takes hostages at a Jewish supermarket, four of whom are killed. The attackers are killed in separate shootouts with police, but not before claiming allegiance to Al-Qaeda and the IS.

— list by AFP