Strasbourg Christmas market gunman shot dead.

The man suspected of opening fire at a Christmas market has been shot dead, the French interior minister has said.

Cherif Chekatt killed three people and injured 13 at a Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg on Tuesday.

Minister of the interior Christophe Castaner said the the 29-year-old was killed in the Neudorf-Meinau area of the city after a police operation was launched at about 9pm on Thursday.

Three police officers had stumbled across a man they had believed was Chekatt and when they went to arrest him he turned to fire on them, Mr Castaner said.

The officers then shot and killed him.

A French official was earlier quoted by the Associated Press as saying the suspect had been armed with a pistol and a knife.

Witnesses reported "at least three" gunshots were heard in the district and a police helicopter was seen hovering overhead.

The area had been cordoned off by police earlier in the day by members of France's elite RAID force as part of a search by more than 700 police officers.

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

Chekatt had 27 convictions in France, Germany and Switzerland, and is believed to have been radicalised while in jail.

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

Five people have already been arrested as part of the manhunt, including Chekatt's parents and two of his brothers. The latest person was described as a member of his "entourage".

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

The other victims were not named but French media said 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.

Three of the injured have left hospital and three others are fighting for their lives, French media said on Thursday night.

A Strasbourg mosque posted on Facebook earlier 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.

Italian radio journalist Antonio Megalizzi, 28, was also reported to be among those in critical condition after taking a bullet to the head.

Chekatt had yelled "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire at the Christmas market and police are treating it as a terrorist incident.

The suspect 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.

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

Yahoo News.