Police appeal to public for information on suspect Chérif Chekatt who has gunshot wound to elbow

A major manhunt is continuing in France and across the German border as police appealed to the public for information about the suspected Strasbourg gunman who killed three and left several people seriously wounded before escaping the security services on Tuesday night.

Although police and military exchanged fire three times with the suspected gunman Chérif Chekatt during his gun and knife attack near Strasbourg’s Christmas market, the 29-year-old managed to escape them in the Neudorf area south-east of the city centre.

He has a gunshot wound to the elbow, but remains armed and on the run 36 hours after the attack.

Hundreds of French troops and police are taking part in the manhunt, and French authorities have issued a photo of Chekatt and an appeal warning: “Dangerous individual, above all do not intervene.” It describes him as 1.80 metres tall, of regular build with short hair and a mark on his forehead.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The photograph of Chérif Chekatt handed out by French police, who describe him as a ‘dangerous individual’. Photograph: Police National/Handout/EPA

Checkatt was born in Strasbourg and is thought to have a large criminal network in the city. He has more than 27 criminal convictions and has been known to police since the age of 10 for petty crime.

He had been under surveillance as a potential security risk for two years and had been on an intelligence services watchlist since 2016 after the French prison services raised questions about suspected radicalisation in prison..

This would suggest that police searching for him would already be listening to communications among his network of contacts in Strasbourg.

Chekatt is known for robberies and break-ins. It is unclear what potential links exist between him and jihadists in France. Strasbourg, the historic city on the border with Germany, is thought to have the biggest concentration of suspected jihadist cells in France. In May last year, Strasbourg’s mayor, Roland Ries, said that 10% of people on the intelligence services’ watchlist who posed potential security risks were based in the city.

French and German agents are continuing to check vehicles and public transport crossing the Rhine river at the French-German border, backing up road traffic in both directions. At the Europa Bridge, the main border crossing in the region used by commuters travelling in both directions, armed police were inspecting vehicles. Police were also checking pedestrians and trains arriving in Germany from Strasbourg.

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Laurent Nuñez, a junior interior minister, said on Wednesday that it couldn’t be ruled out that the suspect had already crossed over the German border, a short distance from the centre of Strasbourg. Chekatt had criminal convictions for robbery in Germany and in Switzerland, as well as France.

Tuesday night’s attack left three dead, including a Thai tourist. A third person, an Afghan mechanic living in Strasbourg, was left in a coma and is being kept alive on life support. Six other victims were fighting for their lives and several others were injured.

The French prosecutor said: “Considering the target, his way of operating, his profile, and the testimonies of those who heard him yell ‘Allahu Akbar’, the anti-terrorist police has been called into action.”

An investigation has been opened into alleged murder with terrorist intent and suspected ties to terrorist networks with intent to commit crimes, the French prosecutor said.

On Tuesday morning, about 12 hours before the suspect opened fire near Strasbourg’s Christmas market, police had arrived at Chekatt’s flat on a modern estate in Strasbourg to arrest him over a case of attempted murder and aggravated violence. French media said this arrest was related to the burglary of a house this summer in which a person was injured. Chekatt was not at home when police turned up, but officers seized a grenade, a rifle, ammunition, and four knives.

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A former senior French intelligence officer, who was not named, speculated to the French public broadcaster France Info there might have been a problem coordinating security services for Tuesday morning’s attempted arrest. “There should have been checks to ensure he was definitely at home at the time. At large, these guys are walking bombs,” the source said.

French opposition politicians on the right and far-right have criticised the government after the Strasbourg attack saying not enough was being done to deal with people suspected of radicalisation. The government spokesman said that opposition figures should not try to play politics at the time of such a serious event.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest French police officers on patrol in Strasbourg walk past flowers and candles in the rue des Orfèvres in tribute to the two victims of the shooting. Photograph: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

No one has yet claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s Strasbourg market attack.

A German security source told Reuters that Chekatt was jailed in southern Germany from August 2016 to February 2017 for aggravated theft but was released before the end of his 27-month sentence so that he could be deported to France.

“He was banned from reentering Germany at the same time,” the security source in the state of Baden-Württemberg said. “We don’t have any knowledge of any kind of radicalisation.”