At least one dead, 10 wounded in French Christmas market shooting

[webfact]

At least one dead, 10 wounded in French Christmas market shooting

 

Rescue teams work at the scene of shooting in Strasbourg, France, December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

 

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - At least one person was killed and 10 people were wounded in a shooting near a Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg on Tuesday, the local prefecture said.

 

Police locked down the area and launched a hunt for the shooter, who fled the scene, the police sources said. They said the gunman had been identified.

 

Local authorities told people in the city's Neudorf area and Etoile park to stay where they were.

 

"There were gunshots and people running everywhere," one local shopkeeper told BFM TV. "It lasted about 10 minutes."

 

France remains on high alert after a wave of attacks commissioned or inspired by Islamic State militants since early 2015, in which about 240 people have been killed.

 

The Christmas market was being held amid tight security this year, with unauthorised vehicles banned 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 and that an investigation was under way to see if it was terrorism-related.

 

President Emmanuel Macron was informed of the shooting and was being updated as events unfurled, an Elysee Palace official said. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner was on his way to Strasbourg, which lies on the border with Germany.

 

Ecology Minister Francois de Rugy tweeted: "Solidarity and support for the people of Strasbourg. Our support too for the security forces. We are united and determined to protect the French people."

 

In 2016, a truck ploughed into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, killing more than 80, while in November 2015, coordinated attacks on the Bataclan concert hall and other sites in Paris claimed about 130 lives. There have also been attacks in Paris on a policeman on the Champs-Elysees avenue, the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher store.

 

Almost exactly two years ago, a Tunisian Islamist rammed a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 11 people as well as the driver.

 

(Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg and Christian Hartmann, Emmanuel Jarry, Michel Rose in Paris and Kevin Liffey in London; writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-12

[webfact]

At least two dead, 11 wounded in French Christmas market shooting

By Foo Yun Chee

 

Police secure a street and the surrounding area after a shooting in Strasbourg, France, December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

 

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 unauthorised 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.

 

PRESIDENT INFORMED

President Emmanuel Macron was informed of the shooting and was being updated as events unfurled, an Elysee Palace official said. Castaner was on his way to Strasbourg, which lies on the border with Germany.

 

A spokesman for the European Parliament said the building had been shut down and staff ordered to stay inside.

 

"My thoughts are with the victims of the Strasbourg shooting, which I condemn with the utmost firmness," tweeted Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, the EU executive. "Strasbourg is an excellent symbol of peace and European Democracy. Values that we will always defend."

 

European security agencies have feared for some time that Islamist militants who left Europe to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq would return after the jihadist group's defeat, with the skills and motivation to carry out attacks at home.

 

In 2016, a truck ploughed into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, killing more than 80 people, while in November 2015, coordinated Islamist militant attacks on the Bataclan concert hall and other sites in Paris claimed about 130 lives.

 

There have also been attacks in Paris on a policeman on the Champs-Elysees avenue, the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher store.

 

Almost exactly two years ago, a Tunisian Islamist rammed a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 11 people as well as the driver.

 

(Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg and Christian Hartmann, Emmanuel Jarry, Michel Rose and Inti Landauro in Paris and Kevin Liffey in London; writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-12

[simple1]

Sad to read of this terror attack (French authorities have confirmed terrorism related). Was in Strasbourg November last year and noted the armed military presence in the main tourist areas in the old city. Wishing quick recovery for the wounded and sympathies to the people of Strasbourg and families of the murdered.

 

Claims the attacker was injured in return fire by security forces, trust there will be a rapid arrest (prefer to see these morons jailed for life rather than a quick kill).

Edited December 11, 2018 by simple1

[fruitman]

There are 4 deads and the shooter was a radicalized man known by the police...they even searched his house this morning and found grenades.....

 

 

 

[webfact]

Gunman kills at least four people in French Christmas market

By Foo Yun Chee and Gilbert Reilhac

 

Police secure a street and the surrounding area after a shooting in Strasbourg, France, December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

 

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - A gunman killed at least four people and wounded 11 others near a Christmas market in the French border city of Strasbourg on Tuesday evening before being cornered by police.

 

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.

 

Some two hours after the attack, elite police cornered the suspect and shots were fired, a source close to the operation said. French media reported the assailant was holed up in a store on the Rue Epinal.

 

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the gunman was known to security services, and the local prefecture said he was on an intelligence services watchlist.

 

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.

 

A Reuters reporter was among 30 to 40 people being held in the basement of a supermarket for their own safety, waiting for police to clear the area. Lights were switched off and bottles of water handed out.

 

The European Parliament, which is sitting in Strasbourg this week, was put into lockdown.

 

TIGHT SECURITY

The Christmas market was being held amid tight security this year, with unauthorised vehicles excluded from surrounding streets during opening hours and checkpoints set up on bridges and access points to search pedestrians' bags.

 

The Paris prosecutor said the motive for the attack was not known. No group immediately claimed responsibility but the U.S.-based Site intelligence group, which monitors jihadist websites, said Islamic State supporters were celebrating the attack.

 

Sources familiar with the police operation said the suspect was a 29-year-old whose residence had been raided earlier in the day in connection with a robbery during the summer. The suspect was not in the building at the time.

 

President Emmanuel Macron was being updated as events unfurled, an Elysee Palace official said. Castaner was on his way to Strasbourg, which lies on the border with Germany.

 

The gunman entered the market over a bridge at about 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) before opening fire, the prefecture said, adding that the suspect was a known security risk and on a watch list.

 

A spokesman for the European Parliament said the building had been shut down and staff ordered to stay inside.

 

"My thoughts are with the victims of the Strasbourg shooting, which I condemn with the utmost firmness," tweeted Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, the EU executive. "Strasbourg is an excellent symbol of peace and European Democracy. Values that we will always defend."

 

WATCHLIST

Some 26,000 individuals suspected of posing a security risk to France are on the "Fiche S" watchlist, of whom about 10,000 are believed to have been radicalised, sometimes in fundamentalist Salafist Muslim mosques, online or abroad.

 

European security agencies have feared for some time that Islamist militants who left Europe to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq would return after the jihadist group's defeat, with the skills and motivation to carry out attacks at home.

 

Secular France has been grappling with how to respond to both homegrown jihadists and foreign militants following attacks in Paris, Nice, Marseille and beyond since 2015.

 

In 2016, a truck ploughed into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, killing more than 80 people, while in November 2015, coordinated Islamist militant attacks on the Bataclan concert hall and other sites in Paris claimed about 130 lives.

There have also been attacks in Paris on a policeman on the Champs-Elysees avenue, the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher store.

 

Almost exactly two years ago, a Tunisian Islamist rammed a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 11 people as well as the driver.

 

(Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg and Christian Hartmann, Emmanuel Jarry, Michel Rose and Inti Landauro in Paris and Kevin Liffey in London; writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-12

[balo]

And one of the victims was a Thai tourist according to another thread. 

 

It's been a while since the last terrorist attack so I was expecting this could happen before Christmas. And France again , I would not be surprised if the terrorist is a radical muslim.  

[pedro01]

14 minutes ago, fruitman said:

There are 4 deads and the shooter was a radicalized man known by the police...they even searched his house this morning and found grenades.....

 

 

 

 

Shame they didn't search his house yesterday.

 

You have to wonder just how many of these "known by the police", there  are - because they seem to always be known - but still get away with stuff like this.

[TopDeadSenter]

 Europe has changed beyond recognition. Would it not make sense for the natives to compromise and move and rename Christmas to co-incide with Eid al Fitr? Many countries have dumbed it down to "WInter Holiday", or "Winter Festival" to avoid upsetting those that hate Christmas and Christians, what difference would it make to change the date as well? A small sacrifice to save countless lives, sounds like a reasonable idea.

 

[petedk]

24 minutes ago, balo said:

And one of the victims was a Thai tourist according to another thread. 

 

It's been a while since the last terrorist attack so I was expecting this could happen before Christmas. And France again , I would not be surprised if the terrorist is a radical muslim.  

Yes, I just saw an interview on BBC News where an eye witness said one of the dead is a tourist from Thailand and that he is still in the restaurant and the police cannot get to them.

[metisdead]

An off topic trolling post about Israel has been removed. 

[leither69]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 Europe has changed beyond recognition. Would it not make sense for the natives to compromise and move and rename Christmas to co-incide with Eid al Fitr? Many countries have dumbed it down to "WInter Holiday", or "Winter Festival" to avoid upsetting those that hate Christmas and Christians, what difference would it make to change the date as well? A small sacrifice to save countless lives, sounds like a reasonable idea.

 

Only to you!!

[zydeco]

And look how this type news hardly generates any response on TVF anymore. Just another routine terror attack.

[blazes]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 Europe has changed beyond recognition. Would it not make sense for the natives to compromise and move and rename Christmas to co-incide with Eid al Fitr? Many countries have dumbed it down to "WInter Holiday", or "Winter Festival" to avoid upsetting those that hate Christmas and Christians, what difference would it make to change the date as well? A small sacrifice to save countless lives, sounds like a reasonable idea.

 

 

Yes, and while they're at it, why not have the French and Uk and German etc etc populations move out of Europe completely and head for the general area of what used to be called the Ottoman Empire.

Then, over the next 500 years, they could transform the desert into beautiful greenspace, with magnificent buildings and cathedrals and Christmas markets, until one day the populations of the new "Europe" could decide to move back to what we now call the Middle East and tell all those infidel Christians to eff off to the desert that would by then stretch over all that we now call Europe.

 

In the meantime, RIP the people of Strasbourg....

[AhFarangJa]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 Europe has changed beyond recognition. Would it not make sense for the natives to compromise and move and rename Christmas to co-incide with Eid al Fitr? Many countries have dumbed it down to "WInter Holiday", or "Winter Festival" to avoid upsetting those that hate Christmas and Christians, what difference would it make to change the date as well? A small sacrifice to save countless lives, sounds like a reasonable idea.

 

Please tell me what Kowtowing to these people any more than governments already have done would do to stop this murderous trait..........I will tell you...absolutey nothing. Your suggestion, which I find totally preposterous, is exactly what these people want. Dumbing down as you put it is an insult to the majority of the non Muslim populace, and what amounts to a curtailment of THEIR freedoms. I have said it numerous times, and will say it again, They come to our shores to take over, they will not integrate, they are intolerant of anything they do not follow, and they do have an agenda to take over, it is in their indoctrination. 

[Rimmer]

An off topic post about the US has been removed also a reply

[NanLaew]

22 minutes ago, zydeco said:

And look how this type news hardly generates any response on TVF anymore. Just another routine terror attack.

Steady on there Tonto, some of us haven't woken up properly yet and are still on the first coffee. The usual haters will be right along shortly.

[metisdead]

An off topic post in reply to a previously removed post has been removed. 

[klauskunkel]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

the local prefecture said he was on an intelligence services watchlist.

too bad he wasn't on a to-do-list

[webfact]

Thai tourist among victims of deadly Strasbourg Christmas market shooting

By The Nation

 

Policemen and emergency medical response vehicules are seen in the rue des Grandes Arcades in Strasbourg, eastern France, after a shooting breakout, on December 11, 2018./AFP

 

A Thai tourist was among three victims killed by a gunman at a Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg on Tuesday evening, Paris time, according to a Thai expat organisation in France.

 

Namtip Ficho, chairwoman of the Association of Thai Provence, said she has been informed by the Association of Thai Students in France that Anupong Suebsamarn was killed in the shooting shortly after arriving in the country on holiday.

Namtip quoted the tourist's wife, Naiyana Subesamarn, as saying that her slain husband was 45.

 

Naiyana had given the details while she waited at a hospital where her husband had been taken, said Namtip, adding that the Thai Embassy in Paris has been informed of the death.

 

The Thai ambassador is scheduled to travel to Strasbourg today (Wednesday) to help handle the legal process regarding the death.

 

French authorities said the gunman also wounded a dozen others before fleeing the scene.

 

A manhunt was under way after the killer opened fire at around 8pm local time (2am Bangkok time) on one of the city's busiest streets, sending crowds of evening shoppers fleeing for safety. 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, French police said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30360249

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-12

[Basil B]

the BBC reports 3 dead and 12 injured

Quote

Hundreds of police officers are hunting a gunman after three people were killed and 12 others wounded in a shooting in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.

The suspect, who is known to security services, escaped after exchanging fire with soldiers and armed police on Tuesday. He is believed to be injured.

The shooting happened close to a popular Christmas market near one of the central squares, Place Kléber.

Gun man believed to be injured, hope it hurts...

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts as well as offensive posts and the replies have been removed. 

[mickymouse1]

Peter Fritz tried with others to resuscitate him for 45 minutes in the absence of ambulance or Dr at hand.When called the Dr he was told there is no point as 45 minutes of futile attempt failed.i was shocked when I heard Pete on the phone to the BBC from the restaurant where the victim was .

[nontabury]

8 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Steady on there Tonto, some of us haven't woken up properly yet and are still on the first coffee. The usual haters will be right along shortly.

You could have suggested,that we all transform into the 3 wise monkeys. Would that solve the problem?

[nontabury]

8 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Steady on there Tonto, some of us haven't woken up properly yet and are still on the first coffee. The usual haters will be right along shortly.

You could have suggested,that we all transform into the 3 wise monkeys. Would that solve the problem?

[jesimps]

8 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Steady on there Tonto, some of us haven't woken up properly yet and are still on the first coffee. The usual haters will be right along shortly.

Crikey! There was me thinking that I should dislike people who go around murdering total strangers for no reason other than being a member of a different belief to them.

[jesimps]

11 hours ago, simple1 said:

Sad to read of this terror attack (French authorities have confirmed terrorism related). Was in Strasbourg November last year and noted the armed military presence in the main tourist areas in the old city. Wishing quick recovery for the wounded and sympathies to the people of Strasbourg and families of the murdered.

 

Claims the attacker was injured in return fire by security forces, trust there will be a rapid arrest (prefer to see these morons jailed for life rather than a quick kill).

I'd prefer a nice slow kill actually but I know that's just wishful thinking.

[jesimps]

11 hours ago, balo said:

And one of the victims was a Thai tourist according to another thread. 

 

It's been a while since the last terrorist attack so I was expecting this could happen before Christmas. And France again , I would not be surprised if the terrorist is a radical muslim.  

I'd bet the farm on it. Yesterday the repsort that I read said that the attacker was taking part in a robbery at the market. I took it with a pinch of salt of course.

[observer90210]

Better to avoid large cities in France and mainly where the crowds gather for festivals or ceremonies as that country seems to be doomed with all the terror attacks.

[janclaes47]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The European Parliament, which is sitting in Strasbourg this week, was put into lockdown.

The shooter at the Christmas market definitely had the wrong location.

[ravip]

8 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Please tell me what Kowtowing to these people any more than governments already have done would do to stop this murderous trait..........I will tell you...absolutey nothing. Your suggestion, which I find totally preposterous, is exactly what these people want. Dumbing down as you put it is an insult to the majority of the non Muslim populace, and what amounts to a curtailment of THEIR freedoms. I have said it numerous times, and will say it again, They come to our shores to take over, they will not integrate, they are intolerant of anything they do not follow, and they do have an agenda to take over, it is in their indoctrination. 

If that is so, why not pulverise them instead of mollycoddling them?