A fugitive gunman who opened fire on Christmas shoppers at a market in Strasbourg, eastern France, shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) during his killing spree, French officials said Wednesday as anti-terror police joined a giant manhunt.
The attack took place Tuesday night around 8 pm (1900 GMT) in the heart of the medieval city as the market was closing, leaving two dead and 13 injured.
Witnesses said the suspect, a 29-year-old Strasbourg native identified as Cherif C., cried "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire with a handgun and stabbed passers-by, France's anti-terror prosecutor Remy Heitz said Wednesday.
The man, who was on a watchlist for suspected religious extremists, had already been sentenced 27 times in France, Germany and Switzerland for crimes including violence and robbery.
Four people connected to him were detained in Strasbourg overnight, he added.
The man 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," deputy interior minister Laurent Nunez told France Inter radio Wednesday.
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He is "known for a number of criminal offences (...) but has never been linked to terrorist offences," Nunez said.
The suspect lived in a rundown housing estate a short drive from the Christmas market, which draws some two million people each year to its wooden chalets selling festive decorations, mulled wine and food.
"His family has lived around here for a while, but he lived on his own nearby," Zach, a 22-year-old in the Poteries area of Strasbourg, told AFP.
"He was discreet, not a thug."
"People were running everywhere." - 'People running everywhere' -
The SITE intelligence group, which monitors jihadist activity, said in November that a group aligned with the Islamic State group had warned of a Strasbourg attack with a social media post titled "O Christmas here we come - Strasbourg, 01 January 2019."