German Christmas market attack: Everything we know as car attack kills five and injures hundreds
A driver plowed a car into a crowd of shoppers at a busy German Christmas market on Friday evening, killing at least four people and injuring at least 68 in a suspected deliberate attack.
An extensive police operation is underway following the attack at the market in the German city of Magdeburg that happened at around 7 p.m. local time.
Authorities confirmed that a toddler is among the dead, while local media reported on Saturday that 41 people are seriously injured.
A 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia was arrested on Friday following the attack.
Identified as Taleb. A, he has been in the country since 2006 and according to local media outlets, and reportedly sympathised with Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party.
At least four people were killed in the shocking incident, local media confirmed. One of those killed was a young child.
Authorities confirmed on Friday that 68 people had been injured, including 15 seriously. But local media reported on Saturday that 41 people are now believed to be seriously injured.
German newspaper Bild, reported that 86 people are receiving hospital treatment for their injuries and another 78 have sustained minor injuries.
Local media reports said he was a supporter of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party.
Saxony-Anhalt’s governor Reiner Haseloff told reporters earlier that additional deaths could not be ruled out due to the number of people injured.
He said: “As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city,
“Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many.”
The suspect is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who first came to Germany in 2006, Saxony-Anhalt interior minister Tamara Zieschang told reporters.
He has been named by German media as Taleb. A. He was recognised as a refugee in 2016 and is a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy in the nearby town of Bernburg.
