Paris: The shooter, who killed five persons and injured 13 others in a Christmas market in France’s Strasbourg city, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terror group in a video, reports said.
The video was found on a USB key belonging to the 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt, the BBC reported on Sunday.
Chekatt was shot dead, after a manhunt lasting two days, in the Neudorf-Meinau district of the city, two kilometres from where he shot passers-by and stabbed people on December 11.
After the attack, IS had claimed Chekatt was one of their “soldiers” but French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner had cast doubt on that claim.
IS’ self-styled news agency Amaq said Chekatt had “carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of coalition countries” fighting its militants in Syria and Iraq, the BBC reported.
Chekatt had a criminal record and was on the police watch list for radicalisation and potential security threat.
