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Strasbourg market terror attacker Cherif Chekatt wanted dead or alive

French authorities say they are prepared to take the Strasbourg terror attacker dead or alive.

More than 700 police are hunting Cherif Chekatt for a second day after the 29-year-old shot dead three people near a Christmas market on Tuesday.

Vehicles are being inspected at a checkpoint on the nearby German border and the suspect's associates are being questioned.

Meanwhile, the AFP and Reuters news agencies are reporting that dozens of elite officers have launched an operation in the south of the city.

Asked if police had been told to capture the killer dead or alive, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told France's CNews: "It doesn't matter. The best thing would be to find him as quickly as possible."

A wanted poster has been issued for Chekatt - a Strasbourg local who shouted "Allahu Akbar" before launching his gun and knife attack.

The poster warns: "Dangerous individual, above all do not intervene."

Hundreds of extra police and soldiers are being deployed to guard other public places, especially Christmas markets, said French prime minister Edouard Philippe.

Chekatt had 27 convictions in France, Germany and Switzerland, and authorities believe he became radicalised while in jail.

He was also one of 25,000 people on the "S file" security risk - reserved for people suspected of extremism - and was being monitored since 2015.

Three people were killed in the attack, including a Thai tourist named by the embassy in Paris as 45-year-old Anupong Suebsamarn.

The other victims have not been named but French media report one is a 52-year-old Strasbourg man who was killed while leaving a restaurant.

Prosecutor Remy Heitz confirmed on Wednesday that one victim had been left brain dead.

Around a dozen more people were injured - some of them seriously - and a Strasbourg mosque posted on Facebook to say one of its members was in a coma after being hit in the head.

Grande Mosquee Eyyub Sultan de Strasbourg named the man as "Brother Kamal", who worked as a mechanic.

An Italian radio journalist was also reported to be fighting for his life after taking a bullet to the head.

Antonio Megalizzi, 28, from the northern city of Trento, was in Strasbourg to cover a session of the European Parliament, reported Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Chekatt was shot in the arm during a gunfight with police but managed to escape in a taxi, boasting of the attack to the driver, who was forced to drop him in another part of the city.

Authorities say he exchanged more gunfire with police and disappeared.

During an operation to try to arrest Chekatt on Tuesday morning, hours before the attack, officers found a grenade, rifle and four knives.

Prosecutor Remy Heitz said: "Considering the target, his way of operating, his profile and the testimonies of those who heard him yell 'Allahu Akbar', the anti-terrorist police has been called into action."

Strasbourg's mayor also said the shooting was indisputably a terrorist attack.