Closing summary
It’s now 2.20am in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, and we’re closing this live blog. Below is a snapshot of what we know about the car-ramming attack at a Christmas market on Friday evening, and our full report can be read here. Thanks for being with us.
Two people have been killed and at least 68 injured after a driver ploughed a car into a Christmas market on Friday evening in the eastern German town of Magdeburg.
German police have arrested a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who they believe is responsible for the attack, according to Reiner Haseloff, premier of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. One of the dead was a small child, he said.
The suspect is named Taleb A and first arrived in Germany in March 2006, according to security sources cited by the Spiegel news outlet. He was recognised as a refugee in July 2016 and is a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Magdeburg’s University hospital said it was treating 10-20 patients and preparing for more, German press agency dpa reported.
Saudi Arabia condemned the attack, with its ministry of foreign affairs saying the kingdom expressed its “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims”.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz said his “thoughts are with the victims and their families”. UK prime minister Keir Starmer said he was “horrified” by the attack and “we stand with the people of Germany”.
Updated
The car barrelled into the crowd at high speed just after 7pm local time on Friday (1800 GMT), when the Christmas market was filled with revellers, Agence France-Presse reports.
Video footage showed the arrest of the black BMW’s driver as police, with their handguns trained, shouted “lie down, hands on your back, don’t move!” at a bearded man with glasses who was lying on the ground next to the heavily damaged car.
Police said the vehicle drove “at least 400 metres across the Christmas market” leaving a trail of bloodied casualties, debris and broken glass at the city’s central town hall square.
Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the chaotic site, which was doused in blue police lights and wailing sirens, as badly injured people were treated onsite and taken to hospitals.
Cries and screams rang out as about 100 emergency responders deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.
“The pictures are terrible,” city spokesman Michael Reif said.
At least two people were killed, one of them a young child, and 68 injured, said authorities in the city of Magdeburg, about 130km (80 miles) south-west of Berlin.
The suspect arrested after the attack was a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor living in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, said regional premier Reiner Haseloff.
Updated
