Five people including a toddler were killed and around 200 more injured, 15 of them seriously, after a car plowed into crowds at a bustling Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg late on Friday.
Police arrested the suspect, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who has a permanent residency in Germany, according to the State’s Interior Minister. He has been living in Germany since 2006. In a now deleted X feed apparently belonging to the suspect, he made anti-Islam posts, expressed sympathy for the far-right AfD party and even accused Germany of promoting the Islamisation of the country.
The motive for the crime has not yet been established by the authorities. Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Magdeburg yesterday. Footage from social media, verified by CNN, showed the gruesome moment a black car drove directly into the crowd at the busy Christmas market. In the video, dozens of people were crowded at the market stalls when the vehicle plowed directly into them. Some people were seen running away in panic, while others dived into the stalls. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the attack, saying in a statement that the Kingdom “affirms its position in rejecting violence and expresses its sympathy and sincere condolences to the families of the deceased.” Elsewhere, European leaders and the White House offered their condolences and support. German Chancellor Scholz said that Germany must remain unified after the fatal car-ramming attack in the city of Magdeburg, and not let hatred divide the country. “For me it’s important that when such a terrible, awful event happens, a terrible attack in which so many people were injured and killed, almost on the anniversary of the Breitscheidplatz terror attack in Berlin, that we as a country stay together and stick together,” Scholz told reporters in Madgeburg on Saturday, referring to another ramming attack on a Christmas market in 2016 that left 12 dead. – CNN
