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French Minister Says Motives for Strasbourg Attack Unclear

French Minister Says Motives for Strasbourg Attack Unclear

(Bloomberg) -- The motives behind the murder of three people Tuesday night at a Christmas market in the eastern city of Strasbourg haven’t been determined, according to Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.

The presumed killer, a 29-year-old French citizen with a long criminal record, is still at large and appears to have been wounded in an exchange of gunfire with soldiers who were guarding the market, the minister said Wednesday on France Inter radio. The man had served several jail sentences for holdups and other crimes and last left prison in late 2015.

The suspect was on a list of people to be put under surveillance because of “fundamentalist religious practices” in prison, Nunez said. “There was nothing to suggest he would move to act.”

Police had tried to arrest the man Tuesday morning in relation to a case of attempted murder, but he wasn’t at home, the minister said. Five other people were arrested in the case.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Tara Patel

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