A driver rammed a car into a crowd of shoppers at a busy German Christmas market on Friday evening, killing at least five people and injuring 200.
An extensive police operation is underway following the attack at the market in the German city of Magdeburg that happened at around 7pm local time on Friday.
Authorities confirmed that a child is among the dead, while local media reported on Saturday that 41 people are very 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, he reportedly sympathised with the country’s far-right Alternative for Germany party.
How many people have died or injured?
At least five people were killed in the shocking incident, Saxony-Anhalt’s governor Reiner Haseloff confirmed on Saturday. One of those killed was a young child.
He told reporters at the scene that 200 people were injured. According to German media, 41 of these are in critical condition, 90 are seriously injured and a further 80 suffered minor injuries.
He spoke alongside German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who expressed concern about the condition of those injured. Scholz told reporters. “Almost 40 are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”
Earlier, Mr Haseloff told reporters earlier that additional deaths could not be ruled out due to the number of people injured.
Who is the suspect?
The suspect is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who first came to Germany in 2006, authorities confirmed.
He has been named by German media as Taleb A and has reportedly shown support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
A Saudi source told Reuters that the kingdom had warned German authorities about the attacker, who the source said had posted extremist views on his personal X account.
He was recognised as a refugee in 2016 and is a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy in the nearby town of Bernburg.
Interior minister Nancy Faeser told reporters on Saturday: “At this point, we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic — we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation and we have to wait.”
The vehicle, a black BMW, was pictured smashed up at the scene behind a police cordon. Officials believe the suspect acted alone. Verified bystander footage showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road.
Mr Haseloff said at a news conference: “As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city.”
German public broadcaster MDR previously reported that police suspected there could be explosives in the suspect’s car, but police later confirmed none were found after closer inspection.
‘Fairytale’ market turns into ‘war-like’ scenes
A witness told German newspaperMitteldeutsche Zeitung that she and her children jumped out of the path of the careering vehicle as it drove into the crowd.
The anonymous witness described the area as a “fairytale” before the attack.
A man who runs a burger stand told the newspaper that the driver sped past his stall and described the aftermath as “war-like.”
Another witness told Bild that her boyfriend was hit and she is frantically trying to locate him.
The woman, named Nadine, 32, told the newspaper that she had her arm around him when the car came hurtling towards them.
“He was hit and pulled away from my side. He was terrible. Nobody even screamed. You couldn’t even hear the car.”
She said her boyfriend sustained head and leg injuries and she doesn’t know where he is. “We don’t know which hospital he went to,” she said. “The uncertainty is unbearable.”
Where is the Christmas market?
The Christmas market is in the city of Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin. It is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has a population of 240,000.
The large market was bustling on the last Friday before Christmas and was packed with shoppers.
It was evacuated immediately after the attack and organisers have urged the public to stay away from the area.
Footage from the scene of a cordoned-off part of the market showed debris from festive stalls on the ground.
Just yesterday, a service marking the eighth anniversary of an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin took place. In 2016, an attack carried out by Anis Amri killed 13 people and injured dozens more when he drove into a crowd.
