Hunt For Gunman After Strasbourg Market Attack Kills Three
Rukhshan Mir (@rukhshanmir) Published December 12, 2018 | 01:26 PM
Hundreds of security forces were Wednesday deployed in the hunt for a lone gunman who killed at least three people and wounded a dozen others at the famed Christmas market in Strasbourg, with the French government raising the security alert level and reinforcing border controls.
Strasbourg, France, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Dec, 2018 ) :Hundreds of security forces were Wednesday deployed in the hunt for a lone gunman who killed at least three people and wounded a dozen others at the famed Christmas market in Strasbourg, with the French government raising the security alert level and reinforcing border controls.
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.
The killer opened fire at around 8pm (1900 GMT) on one of the city's busiest streets, sending crowds of evening shoppers fleeing for safety.
Castaner said the gunman had killed three people and wounded 12.
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 ricohet from a shot by the gunman.
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.
The gunman has been identified and was on a watchlist of suspected extremists, a statement from local security services said.
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.
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