Armed police officers take position in the Neudorf district of Strasbourg, eastern France

French police placed an area of Strasbourg on lockdown on Thursday as armed officers hunt a gunman who shot dead three people in an attack on a Christmas market.

Security forces, including an elite tactical unit, have swarmed into the Neudorf neighbourhood to investigative if 29-year-old suspect Cherif Chekkat was hiding in a building in the area.

Authorities said a taxi driver dropped him off in the district, in the south-east of the city, after the shooting on Tuesday.

Police have said Chekkat is wanted “dead or alive” over the attack, which also wounded 13 other people.