Terror charges after France market attack

A man suspected of supplying the gun used in the Christmas market shooting attack that killed five people in Strasbourg has been handed preliminary terror charges, according to a French judicial official.

The official, who is close to the investigation, says the individual appeared before a judge on Monday and was charged with criminal association with terrorists and possessing and supplying arms in connection with a terrorist enterprise.

The man is suspected of furnishing the weapon that alleged gunman Cherif Chekatt used in the December 11 attack, the judicial official said.

He was remanded into custody.

Chekatt, 29, died in a shootout with police in Strasbourg on Thursday.

Two other people were arrested and detained on Monday as part of the terror investigation being carried out by the Paris prosecutor's office.

They were also suspected of playing a role in supplying the firearm, the official said.

Their arrests bring the number of suspects in custody since the attack to three; Chekatt's parents and two of his brothers were questioned by police last week and released.

The death toll increased to five on Sunday night after a Polish man died of his wounds in a Strasbourg hospital.

Barto Orent-Niedzielski, 36, lived in the city, where he worked at the European Parliament and as a journalist.

The other casualties include a tourist from Thailand and an Italian journalist.

According to reports, Orent-Niedzielski fought the shooter and stopped him from entering a crowded club, possibly preventing more deaths.