Death toll of Strasbourg attack rises to 4

PARIS, Dec 12 (MENA) - The death toll of the shooting attack in Strasbourg rose to four dead, France 24 channel reported.

Prosecutors said the shooter has been identified but remains at large after authorities went to his house and failed to find him.

Some 11 persons were wounded in the attack.

The 29-year-old suspect has a criminal record and has been linked to radicalism. FGP Police union official Stephane Morisse said officers found explosive materials at the home.

Morisse said the suspect was shot and wounded by soldiers standing guard over the Christmas market, but he was still able to escape.

The evening attack happened at the city’s world-famous Christmas market. France, where most of Europe's worst terror attacks of recent years took place, is raising its terror alert level and sending security reinforcements to Strasbourg, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said.

Some 350 security forces and two helicopters were involved in the search for the assailant, who had been radicalized for "several years" and confronted law enforcement officers twice while he "sowed terror" in Strasbourg, Castaner said.

The attack came as France has been beset by four weeks of protests against President Emmanuel Macron, and police forces have been stretched by fighting, rioting and other protest-related unrest.

Macron adjourned a meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday night to monitor the events, his office said.