We're dealing with a man who was consumed by evil," Castaner said

France's interior minister on Friday dismissed a claim by the Islamic State group that it was responsible for a shooting spree at a Christmas market in Strasbourg after the gunman Cherif Chekatt was shot dead by police.

Interior minister Christophe Castaner dismissed as "completely opportunistic" a Twitter post by the IS propaganda wing which claimed Chekatt, a career criminal with 27 convictions in four countries, was one of its "soldiers." "We're dealing with a man who was consumed by evil," Castaner said. Questions remain over how Chekatt was able to evade the tight security perimeter around the market.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever</s>French hunt for possible accomplices of Strasbourg attacker

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — French police have killed the man who they believed attacked Strasbourg's Christmas market but investigators kept digging Friday for possible accomplices in a city known for a high concentration of potential extremists.

A fourth victim of Tuesday night's attack on the biggest Christmas market in France died Friday. The dead included a Thai tourist and a 29-year-old Italian journalist. A dozen other people were wounded.

The market reopened Friday in a bid to reclaim a festive spirit after being closed for two days after the attack. French President Emmanuel Macron paid a visit, arriving after a European summit in Brussels to offer his condolences to the wounded and victims' families and to salute security forces. He spoke with the three police officers who less than 24 hours earlier shot and killed Cherif Chekatt, the attack suspect.

For three days, Macron has faced back-to-back national emergencies, dealing with the Christmas market attack and in the midst of a month of grassroots protests over the cost of living that have grown increasingly violent and have devastated parts of the French capital.

The government has implored the French not to take to the streets Saturday, evoking the Strasbourg tragedy and the security situation that has strapped soldiers and police.

Chekatt, the 29-year-old Strasbourg native, was killed Thursday night in a confrontation with three police officers in his childhood neighborhood after a massive manhunt.

The depth of his radicalization and connections remained unclear, but his path seemed to reflect an increasingly common hybrid European extremist who moves from delinquency to sowing terror.

The Islamic State group's Amaq news agency claimed Chekatt was a "soldier" of the group but Interior Minister Christophe Castaner rejected the claim as "totally opportunistic."

Investigators are now trying to identify "eventual accomplices or co-authors who could have helped or encouraged him in preparing his move into action," prosecutor Remy Heitz, in charge of terrorism cases in France, told reporters at a news conference Friday.

He said seven people were in custody, including four of Chekatt's family members and three in his "close entourage" — two of them detained Thursday night.

"We want to reconstruct the past 48 hours in order to find out whether he got some support," Heitz said.

The Strasbourg shooting was the latest in a series of deadly attacks that have claimed more than 200 lives in France since 2015. Like other attack sites, the Christmas market was heavy with symbolism.

"This Christmas market is part of our history. It's part of our common events and belongs to all the French people," Castaner said during a walk-through at its reopening. "And this morning, we wanted to show, as we walked down the lanes, that we always know how to get our head up again."

Macron suggested while in Brussels that authorities were working to clarify why Chekatt was not stopped beforehand. He had been on a French intelligence watch list for radicalism and was convicted 27 times for criminal offenses — the first time at age 13 — mainly in France but also in Germany and Switzerland.

French police tried and failed Tuesday morning to arrest him in a case of attempted homicide.

Macron told reporters Friday in Brussels that France should look at "the consequences" of any police failures and work on "what could be improved."

Extremism is not a new phenomenon in Strasbourg, where more than 200 people are on watch lists for potential radicalization or already radicalized, a Strasbourg police official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity and that figure could not be officially confirmed.

Strasbourg's Christmas market has been a previous target. Ten suspected Islamic militants were convicted and sentenced to prison in December 2004 for their role in a foiled plot to blow up the market on New Year's Eve 2000.

Six youths from Strasbourg have been arrested after returning home from Middle East battle zones, part of a group of 14 reported to have left to join the jihad. As early as 2012, Strasbourg had harbored Islamic militant cells planning action elsewhere in France.

Heitz, the anti-terrorism prosecutor, provided more details about the police operation that led to Chekatt's death Thursday evening.

He said two crucial tips came in from residents in Strasbourg's Neudorf neighborhood. Three officers patrolling in Neudorf then spotted a man corresponding to the suspect's description. Noticing their marked police car, the suspect tried unsuccessfully to enter a building. When police officers identified themselves, Chekatt turned abruptly and opened fire on them.

Ganley reported from Paris. Samuel Petrequin in Paris and Angela Charlton in Brussels contributed.</s>France's interior minister on Friday dismissed a claim by Daesh terrorist group that it was responsible for a shooting spree at a Christmas market in Strasbourg after the gunman was shot dead by police, ending a 48-hour manhunt.The city reopened the market on Friday, with officials praising the massive public help and quick police reaction that led to the death of suspected shooter Cherif Chekatt late on Thursday. Around 800 people had called in tips to a hotline after the authorities released his name and photo Wednesday night, including two which France's anti-terror prosecutor Remy Heitz called "decisive" in finding Chekatt. The information allowed police to home in on an area in the Neudorf neighborhood, where he tried to escape into a building after being spotted by a patrol. Unable to get in the door, he turned and shot at the three officers with a handgun when they tried to approach, two of whom returned fire and killed him, Heitz said at a press conference in Strasbourg.

Two more people were detained for questioning overnight, bringing to seven the number in custody, including Chekatt's parents and two brothers, Heitz said. Police are now focusing their investigation on whether Chekatt had any help in carrying out his attack or while on the run, he added.

The lights on the market's towering Christmas tree were illuminated Friday for the first time since the attack, as Interior Minister Christophe Castaner visited with stall owners and the hundreds of security forces members on site. He dismissed as "completely opportunistic" a Twitter post by Daesh propaganda wing which claimed Chekatt, a career criminal with 27 convictions in four countries, was one of its "soldiers." "We're dealing with a man who was consumed by evil," Castaner said.

Questions remain over how Chekatt was able to evade the tight security perimeter set up around the Strasbourg Christmas market which has long been a prime target for militant groups. Around 500 police, security agents and soldiers control access at checkpoints on the bridges leading to the river island, a U.N. World Heritage site that houses the market.

The goal is to "create a bubble with searches at the entry points," Mayor Roland Ries said after the attack, while regional government representative Jean-Luc Marx said he had not determined "any flaws in the security measures."

Many residents, however, were not convinced after Chekatt managed to slip through the controls with a handgun and a knife which he used to kill three people and injure 13. "It doesn't surprise me," said Emeline, 38, who works in the city center. "You wear a heavy coat, put something in the bottom of your bag. You can bring in what you want."

Defense Minister Florence Parly rejected criticism that Chekatt's presence on the country's so-called "S file" should have prompted a more proactive reaction from the authorities. "You can't... arrest someone just because you think he might do something," Parly told Radio Classique on Friday.</s>Hundreds of people turned out Friday for the funeral of Kamal Naghchband, a father-of-three who fled violence in Afghanistan only to be gunned down and killed in this week's Strasbourg Christmas market attack.

Naghchband, 45, had fled strife in Afghanistan to build a new life in France but became one of four people killed when a jihadist gunmen attacked the market in the northeastern French city on Tuesday.

"He was going to see the Christmas market and -- in front of his children -- he took a bullet," one of his cousins told AFP.

Described by relatives as friendly and something of a joker, Naghchband survived a day in hospital in a coma before succumbing to his wounds.

He was the joint manager of a garage near the Strasbourg mosque where he would go to pray and where his funeral was held on Friday.

"Our brother martyr Kamal tells us 'enjoy the moments you have in this world to do good'", Imam Eyup Sahin said, standing before a coffin covered with a green cloth and a smiling portrait of Naghchband.

"Do you think that Allah allows us to kill someone? It is impossible! Islam is a religion of peace (which) no act of terrorism can represent," he said.

"The Prophet says 'he who kills a person, it is as if he had killed all humanity," continued the Imam.

"The best human being," he added, is not "the one who is most helpful for Muslims, for Jews, Christians or atheists, but for all humanity".

Naghchband had lived in France for around 20 years. According to his Facebook page, he was from Kabul and studied in Mazar-i-Sharif, in the north of the country.

"He was charismatic, kind, and joked with everyone. People didn't go to his garage just to have their car repaired but to have coffee with him," said one relative.

"He was very welcoming."

After prayers, held in the courtyard of the mosque, Naghchband's body was covered with a French flag and carried before a large crowd of mourners to a cemetery in the south of the city.

One unnamed mourner described Naghchband as a force for good, whatever ills befell him.

"Whatever bad things were done to him, he only ever did good."</s>PARIS — Midfielder Mathieu Cafaro scored from a free kick midway through the second half as Reims beat Strasbourg 2-1 to move up to eighth place in the French league.

Moussa Doumbia put Reims ahead after just seven minutes with a half-volley which went in off the post. Adrien Thomasson equalized shortly after halftime for Strasbourg but substitute Cafaro sealed victory in the 66th.

Only four matches are going ahead this weekend, with another game moved to Tuesday and five postponed.

Runaway league leader Paris Saint-Germain’s match at Dijon on Saturday was initially maintained before also being called off at the request of authorities. This is because police forces across the country are being stretched amid anti-government protests and in the wake of a deadly Christmas market attack this week in Strasbourg.

A minute’s silence was being held at all soccer stadiums in France’s first and second divisions this weekend in memory of the victims and their families.

Reims players showed their support by unfurling a banner in front of the Strasbourg fans which said “Strasbourg Toujours” (Strasbourg Forever). Strasbourg president Marc Keller looked emotional as he applauded Reims fans, and Strasbourg’s travelling fans held up two large black banners with nothing written on them.

Sunday’s games are Nice vs. Saint-Etienne; Nimes vs. second-place Lille, and Lyon vs. Monaco.

Caen vs. Toulouse will take place on Tuesday.

The six matches were postponed last week amid security concerns about anti-government protests. Those are rescheduled for Jan. 15-16.

PSG will play its match against Montpellier on Jan. 15, but it may now be pushed back to February since it clashes with PSG’s planned winter training camp in Qatar.</s>The state-run TV channel France 2 showed an interview with Abdelkrim Chekatt on Saturday night, two days after the son was killed in a confrontation with three police officers in his childhood neighborhood in Strasbourg following a massive manhunt. Four people died in the Tuesday night attack.</s>French hunt for possible accomplices of Strasbourg attacker

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — French police have killed the man who they believed attacked Strasbourg's Christmas market but investigators kept digging Friday for possible accomplices in a city known for a high concentration of potential extremists.

A fourth victim of Tuesday night's attack on the biggest Christmas market in France died Friday. The dead included a Thai tourist and a 29-year-old Italian journalist. A dozen other people were wounded.

The market reopened Friday in a bid to reclaim a festive spirit after being closed for two days after the attack. French President Emmanuel Macron paid a visit, arriving after a European summit in Brussels to offer his condolences to the wounded and victims' families and to salute security forces. He spoke with the three police officers who less than 24 hours earlier shot and killed Cherif Chekatt, the attack suspect.

For three days, Macron has faced back-to-back national emergencies, dealing with the Christmas market attack and in the midst of a month of grassroots protests over the cost of living that have grown increasingly violent and have devastated parts of the French capital.

The government has implored the French not to take to the streets Saturday, evoking the Strasbourg tragedy and the security situation that has strapped soldiers and police.

Chekatt, the 29-year-old Strasbourg native, was killed Thursday night in a confrontation with three police officers in his childhood neighborhood after a massive manhunt.

The depth of his radicalization and connections remained unclear, but his path seemed to reflect an increasingly common hybrid European extremist who moves from delinquency to sowing terror.

The Islamic State group's Amaq news agency claimed Chekatt was a "soldier" of the group but Interior Minister Christophe Castaner rejected the claim as "totally opportunistic."

Investigators are now trying to identify "eventual accomplices or co-authors who could have helped or encouraged him in preparing his move into action," prosecutor Remy Heitz, in charge of terrorism cases in France, told reporters at a news conference Friday.

He said seven people were in custody, including four of Chekatt's family members and three in his "close entourage" — two of them detained Thursday night.

"We want to reconstruct the past 48 hours in order to find out whether he got some support," Heitz said.

The Strasbourg shooting was the latest in a series of deadly attacks that have claimed more than 200 lives in France since 2015. Like other attack sites, the Christmas market was heavy with symbolism.

"This Christmas market is part of our history. It's part of our common events and belongs to all the French people," Castaner said during a walk-through at its reopening. "And this morning, we wanted to show, as we walked down the lanes, that we always know how to get our head up again."

Macron suggested while in Brussels that authorities were working to clarify why Chekatt was not stopped beforehand. He had been on a French intelligence watch list for radicalism and was convicted 27 times for criminal offenses — the first time at age 13 — mainly in France but also in Germany and Switzerland.

French police tried and failed Tuesday morning to arrest him in a case of attempted homicide.

Macron told reporters Friday in Brussels that France should look at "the consequences" of any police failures and work on "what could be improved."

Extremism is not a new phenomenon in Strasbourg, where more than 200 people are on watch lists for potential radicalization or already radicalized, a Strasbourg police official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity and that figure could not be officially confirmed.

Strasbourg's Christmas market has been a previous target. Ten suspected Islamic militants were convicted and sentenced to prison in December 2004 for their role in a foiled plot to blow up the market on New Year's Eve 2000.

Six youths from Strasbourg have been arrested after returning home from Middle East battle zones, part of a group of 14 reported to have left to join the jihad. As early as 2012, Strasbourg had harbored Islamic militant cells planning action elsewhere in France.

Heitz, the anti-terrorism prosecutor, provided more details about the police operation that led to Chekatt's death Thursday evening.

He said two crucial tips came in from residents in Strasbourg's Neudorf neighborhood. Three officers patrolling in Neudorf then spotted a man corresponding to the suspect's description. Noticing their marked police car, the suspect tried unsuccessfully to enter a building. When police officers identified themselves, Chekatt turned abruptly and opened fire on them.

Ganley reported from Paris. Samuel Petrequin in Paris and Angela Charlton in Brussels contributed.</s>The state-run TV channel France 2 showed an interview with Abdelkrim Chekatt on Saturday night, two days after the son was killed in a confrontation with three police officers in his childhood neighborhood in Strasbourg following a massive manhunt. Four people died in the Tuesday night attack.</s>STRASBOURG: France's interior minister on Friday dismissed a claim by the Islamic State group that it was responsible for a shooting spree at a Christmas market in Strasbourg after the gunman was shot dead by police, ending a 48-hour manhunt.

The city reopened the market on Friday, with officials praising the massive public help and quick police reaction that led to the death of suspected shooter Cherif Chekatt late on Thursday.

He was tracked down at around 9:00 pm (local time) when a police patrol spotted him on a street in a district where he was last seen after Tuesday night's attack.

Around 800 people had called in tips to a hotline after the authorities released his name and photo Wednesday night, including two which France's anti-terror prosecutor Remy Heitz called "decisive" in finding Chekatt.

The information allowed police to home in on an area in the Neudorf neighbourhood, where he tried to escape into a building after being spotted by a patrol.

Unable to get in the door, he turned and shot at the three officers with a handgun when they tried to approach, two of whom returned fire and killed him, Heitz said at a press conference in Strasbourg.

Two more people were detained for questioning overnight, bringing to seven the number in custody, including Chekatt's parents and two brothers, Heitz said.

Police are now focusing their investigation on whether Chekatt had any help in carrying out his attack or while on the run, he added.

The lights on the market's towering Christmas tree were illuminated Friday for the first time since the attack, as Interior Minister Christophe Castaner visited with stall owners and the hundreds of security forces members on site.

He dismissed as "completely opportunistic" a Twitter post by the IS propaganda wing which claimed Chekatt, a career criminal with 27 convictions in four countries, was one of its "soldiers."

"We're dealing with a man who was consumed by evil," Castaner said.

Questions remain over how Chekatt was able to evade the tight security perimeter set up around the Strasbourg Christmas market which has long been a prime target for jihadist groups.

Around 500 police, security agents and soldiers control access at checkpoints on the bridges leading to the river island, a UN World Heritage site, that houses the market.

The goal is to "create a bubble with searches at the entry points," Mayor Roland Ries said after the attack, while regional government representative Jean-Luc Marx said he had not determined "any flaws in the security measures".

Many residents, however, were not convinced after Chekatt managed to slip through the controls with a handgun and a knife which he used to kill three people and injure 13.

"It doesn't surprise me," said Emeline, 38, who works in the city centre.

"You wear a heavy coat, put something in the bottom of your bag. You can bring in what you want."

France has been on high alert since the start of a wave of jihadist attacks in 2015, which prompted a threefold surge in the security budget for the market, to one million euros.

Chekatt, a 29-year-old Strasbourg native who lived in a rundown apartment block a short drive from the city centre, was flagged by French security forces in 2015 as a possible Islamic extremist.

But Defence Minister Florence Parly rejected criticism that Chekatt's presence on the country's so-called "S file" of extremists should have prompted a more proactive reaction from the authorities.

"You can't arrest someone just because you think he might do something," Parly told Radio Classique on Friday.

Strasbourg's deputy mayor Alain Fontanel admitted that despite patrols, plainclothes police, profilers and video surveillance, "the risks can be reduced, but not eliminated".

"We can't pat down and search everyone, only carry out random checks," he said, adding that huge lines at checkpoints would only create a new potential target for terrorists.

"Someone who wants to get in an area this big with a weapon can do it," he said.

Such reasoning was little comfort to the residents and tourists who flock to the Strasbourg market.

"We thought this would happen only in Nice or at the Bataclan, but here it is at home," said Sylvain, who works at another market in the city centre.

He was referring to a truck attack which killed scores of people at Bastille Day festivities in the French Riviera city of Nice in 2016, and the massacre in the capital's Bataclan concert hall in November 2015.

"I'm not going to forget this anytime soon. It's too painful.I'm not even sure I'm able to cry," he said.</s>Midfielder Mathieu Cafaro scored from a free kick midway through the second half as Reims beat Strasbourg 2-1 to move up to eighth place in the French league.

Moussa Doumbia put Reims ahead after just seven minutes with a half-volley which went in off the post. Adrien Thomasson equalized shortly after halftime for Strasbourg but substitute Cafaro sealed victory in the 66th.

Only four matches are going ahead this weekend, with another game moved to Tuesday and five postponed.

Runaway league leader Paris Saint-Germain's match at Dijon on Saturday was initially maintained before also being called off at the request of authorities. This is because police forces across the country are being stretched amid anti-government protests and in the wake of a deadly Christmas market attack this week in Strasbourg.

A minute's silence was being held at all soccer stadiums in France's first and second divisions this weekend in memory of the victims and their families.

Reims players showed their support by unfurling a banner in front of the Strasbourg fans which said "Strasbourg Toujours" (Strasbourg Forever). Strasbourg president Marc Keller looked emotional as he applauded Reims fans, and Strasbourg's travelling fans held up two large black banners with nothing written on them.

Sunday's games are Nice vs. Saint-Etienne; Nimes vs. second-place Lille, and Lyon vs. Monaco.

Caen vs. Toulouse will take place on Tuesday.

The six matches were postponed last week amid security concerns about anti-government protests. Those are rescheduled for Jan. 15-16.

PSG will play its match against Montpellier on Jan. 15, but it may now be pushed back to February since it clashes with PSG's planned winter training camp in Qatar.
A Polish national who was wounded during a terrorist attack in Strasbourg, France, dies of his injuries, raising the death toll to five.