Rome, Dec 13 (IANS/AKI) Italy's national strategic analysis committee met on Wednesday to assess the security threat pose by Islamic extremist networks in the wake of the deadly Strasbourg Christmas market attack, Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini said.

"This morning the strategic analysis committee convened an urgent meeting," Salvini said in a video on Facebook which he posted from Jerusalem during a two-day official visit to Israel.

"Radicalised Muslims, terrorists and returning jihadists -- from the north to the south of the country -- are receiving maximum attention," the post continued.

Authorities must "use every available means to identify, hunt for and arrest" suspected extremists, Salvini said.

"We must check who is entering and leaving the country... It is a duty for the defence of Italy's national soil and borders," Salvini underlined.

Police were on Wednesday hunting for the alleged gunman who escaped from the Strasbourg Christmas market late on Tuesday after killing at least three people and injuring a dozen.

Police identified the suspected gunman as Strasbourg-born Cherif Chekatt, 29, of Moroccan descent, who was known to the intelligence services as a potential security risk.

French prosecutors said they were treating Tuesday night's attack as an act of terrorism.

--IANS/AKI

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