The French authorities have increased the national alert in connection with the hunt for a 29-year-old man suspected of being behind an attack on a popular christmas market in Strasbourg on Tuesday evening.

France’s interior minister, Christophe Castaner, announces at a press conference on the night of Wednesday, that the perpetrator remains on the loose.

– the Government has decided to raise the threat level to the highest level of preparedness. This means increased control of all borders”, says Christophe Castaner.

He confirms that three people lost their lives, while 12 others are wounded after the shooting, which took place in the central part of the city.

France’s interior minister, Christophe Castaner, at a press conference in Strasbourg on the night of Wednesday. Photo: AP

the 112 – 11. dec. 2018 – at. 22:38, Jens Rohde in the heart of Strasbourg-skuddrama

The 29-year-old man, who has not yet been called for with name and photo, have long been of interest to the police and has been on the authorities ‘ list of potential extremists.

the Attack occurred at the 20-time, and the offender immediately came in a battle with police and soldiers. Here he was wounded, but had managed to escape.

Several eyewitnesses telling about the sound of shots and screams as the perpetrator opened fire at the julehandlende.

Yoann Bazard tells the Associated Press that he heard two or three shots, before he reached out his window and could see the panic in the street below.

Then I closed the shutters. Then I heard more shots. This time closer, says the 27-year-old frenchman.

– There were two or three similar episodes … it came closer, and it was truly shocking. There were many a scream, he tells.

Skudofre receive first aid on site, which was opened fire. Photo: AP

Camille Belsoeur tells the Associated Press that he was in a friend’s apartment, when he heard what he first thought were firecrackers.

– We opened the window. I saw a soldier, who fired the shot, about 12-15 shots, says Belsoeur and tells that the soldier cried to the people, that they should go within doors.

another eyewitness told BBC News that one of the victims, a thai tourist in the 30’s, was hit in the head by a shot.

– We did our best to revive him. We provided first aid. We dragged him into a restaurant nearby, says Peter Fritz, who tells that the tourist was later declared dead.

According to local media the police and security forces heavily present in the city.

the Authorities maintained for several hours after the first shots a curfew in the district around the market.

Strasbourg is the seat of the European Parliament, it has meant that mps, including the Danish, have been under the so-called lockdown in the parliament building.

France has in recent years experienced several terrorist attacks committed by radicalised muslims, including a coordinated attack in Paris in november 2015, that claimed the lives of 130 people. An attack with a truck in Nice in 2016, cost the lives of over 80 people.

Sikkerhedsberedskabet has been elevated in France. Photo: AP

the Facts: Militant attacks in France since 2015

245 people have been killed in attack on French soil in the course of the last four years. The wave began with the attack on the satiremagasinet Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.

* 2018:

12. may: A person being stabbed to death with a knife, and four others wounded in central Paris. The offender, a frenchman with a Russian background, was on the French authorities ‘ list of possible extremists.

He had allegedly shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great, ed.) in gerningsøjeblikket.

23. march: Four people are shot and killed during a hostage-taking at a supermarket in the French city of Carcasonne. The offender, the 25-year-old French-moroccan Redouane Lakdim, is killed by the police in a skirmish.

* 2017:

1. October: Two young women are stabbed to death at a train station in Marseille. The offender, a tunesiskfødt man, being subsequently shot and killed by police.

The militant movement Islamic State (IS) is subsequently blamed for the attack.

20. april: A police officer is shot and killed, and two people are injured, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The offender, 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi, is shot and killed in a skirmish with security forces.

To post a letter by his corpse, which IS taking the blame for the attack.

* 2016:

26. July: Abdel Malik Petitjean and Nobility Kermiche, both 19 years old, is shot and killed by police, after they have cut the throat of an 85-year-old priest in front of five worshippers in a church in the vestfranske town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

Before the two teenagers sworn their loyalty to the ICE in a video.

14. July: Tunisian-born Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel running a truck into the crowd on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice during this year’s celebration of the Bastilledagen, France’s national day.

the 86 people killed and more than 400 injured. The 31-year-old perpetrator is killed by the police. IS take the subsequent blame.

13. June: the 25-year-old Larossi Abballa kills a policeman and his partner at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris, in the eyes of their son.

Abballa being killed by French forces, but when before his death to declare his loyalty to ICE through social media.

* 2015:

13. november: 130 people are killed in a coordinated attack in Paris. During a friendly match between France and Germany at the Stade de France is triggered explosives, while the armed perpetrators attack the cafés in the streets of Paris and the venue, the Bataclan.

All the perpetrators are killed in gunfights with the police. In addition to those killed, more than 350 injured.

21. august: Heroic riders fends off an attack on a high-speed train on the route between Amsterdam and Paris.

The 25-year-old perpetrator, marokkanskfødte Ayoub El Khazzani, was known by the French authorities for his connections to radicalised environments in France.

He wore a automatvåben and a knife and had prepared a massacre, but was tackled.

7.-9. January: Two heavily armed men attacking redaktionslokaler associated satiremagasinet Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12, including several satiretegnere. The perpetrators manage to escape from the place.

the Day after becoming a police woman killed outside of Paris, while a gunman shoots and kills four in a hostage-taking in a jewish supermarket.

All the perpetrators are killed in exchanges of fire with the forces, but when the field to declare their loyalty to al-Qaeda and IS.

Sources: AFP, Le Monde, Reuters

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