French police have released a photo of the man suspected of killing two people and leaving another brain dead at a Christmas market in Strasbourg.

Cheriff Chekatt, 29, is said to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" before the attack in France that left 13 people injured - six of them seriously.

The killer, who opened fire with a handgun and used a knife to stab people, is still on the run after he was shot in the arm during a gunfight with police.

He escaped in a taxi and there are concerns he may have fled to Germany where vehicles are now being checked at the border.

Image: French police released the wanted poster of the suspect

Image: German police in Kehl were searching cars at the border with France

Chekatt has 27 convictions in France, Germany and Switzerland, said prosecutor Remy Heitz.


They include several serious cases of robbery.

Mr Heitz added that four people connected to him were detained overnight.

Chekatt was also one of 25,000 people on the "S file" security risk - reserved for people suspected of extremism.

"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," Mr Heitz told reporters.

Image: France's Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) were also patrolling at the border

Armed police trawl the streets of Strasbourg

Strasbourg's mayor has also said the shooting was indisputably a terrorist attack.

Mr Chekatt was flagged by French security forces in 2015 as a possible extremist while in prison, after he "called for practising a radical form of religion", France's deputy interior minister Laurent Nunez told France Inter radio.

Mr Heitz has clarified that two people had died and another person was brain dead after the shooting.

It had earlier been reported that three people were killed.

Image: French soldiers were guarding the front of the cathedral on Wednesday

Sky sources have confirmed that one of the victims was a Thai tourist.

Witnesses said he was shot in the head and did not respond to attempts to revive him.

The Thai embassy in Paris named him as 45-year-old Anupong Suebsamarn.

It said he had just arrived in Strasbourg and was planning to travel to Paris on Thursday.

French president Emmanuel Macron is holding an emergency meeting at the presidential palace over the incident.

The terror attack began when gunshots were heard near the popular market in Place Kleber just after 8pm on Tuesday.

Image: People have started to leave flowers for the victims

Police with machine guns were seen running into the square moments after the first shots were fired and it was quickly evacuated.

Officers chased the gunman for more than two hours before they cornered him and the shootout started.

A soldier was also wounded in the gunfire.

Image: Twelve people were also injured in the attack

The 29-year-old gunman was born in Strasbourg and police said he was due to be arrested on Tuesday morning at the same time his home was searched.

The police operation was in a relation to an attempted murder.

A grenade, rifle and four knives were found in the raid.

He lived in a rundown housing estate a short drive from the Christmas market.

As the search intensified on Wednesday morning, there was a police operation near the city's cathedral.

However, witnesses reported it was over quickly and officers were seen leaving the scene.

A Sky News source described how MEPs were among many people stuck in buildings in the hours after the shootings because of a security lock down.

Emmanuel Foulon, a press officer for the European Parliament - just two miles away, was in the square and said there was panic as people hit the floor to take cover.

Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson, who had just left the market, told Sky News: "We were walking towards the scene of where the shooting took place.

Image: The market in Place Kleber attracts millions of tourists each year

"I heard over six shots and at that stage, there was chaos, confusion, everyone was running - there was pandemonium.

"There were some people with children walking towards the incident and we were telling them to move back.

"Most people were shocked, confused - there was pandemonium - people didn't understand what was happening - we hadn't [either].

"We had heard the shots quite clearly and there were people running away from the scene."

Sky News' Europe correspondent Mark Stone said an airport-style security system to get on to the island where the market is held - in place two years ago - is no longer there, but police and soldiers were at the scene.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said her thoughts were "with all those affected and with the French people".

Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, also said his thoughts were with the victims and that Strasbourg is a symbol of the peace and democracy of Europe.

"Values that we will always defend. The Commission stands alongside France," he said.

Strasbourg Christmas market is one of the oldest in Europe, with 300 wooden stalls set up in the city's historic centre from 23 November to Christmas Eve.

Ten suspected Islamic militants plotted to blow up the market on the millennium and were jailed for up to nine years in 2004.

France remains on high alert following a series of Islamic State inspired attacks in 2015 and 2016, which killed more than 200 people.