|
At least two dead, 11 wounded in French Christmas market shooting
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - A lone gunman shot dead at least two people and wounded 11 others near a Christmas market in the city of Strasbourg on Tuesday evening before fleeing, police said.The motive was not immediately clear but, with France still on high alert after a wave of attacks commissioned or inspired by Islamic State militants since early 2015, the counter-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the gunman was known to security services, and the local prefecture said he had previously been identified as a danger to security. People in the city’s Neudorf area and Etoile park were told to stay where they were as officers hunted the shooter on the ground and from the air. The European Parliament, which is sitting in Strasbourg this week, was put into lockdown. “There were gunshots and people running everywhere,” one local shopkeeper told BFM TV. “It lasted about 10 minutes.” The Christmas market was being held amid tight security this year, with unauthorized vehicles excluded from surrounding streets during opening hours and checkpoints set up on bridges and access points to search pedestrians’ bags. A source at the prosecutor’s office said the motive for the shooting was not immediately clear. A Reuters reporter was among 30 to 40 people being held in the basement of a supermarket for their own safety in central Strasbourg, waiting for police to clear the area. Lights were switched off and bottles of water handed out.
Posted by: DarthVader 2018-12-11 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=529454 |