ReutersOn Friday evening, a man drove a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.
The attack killed five people, including a nine-year-old child, and injured more than 200, many in critical condition.
A judge has ordered the pretrial detention of a 50-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack.
Police believe he acted alone.
How did the attack go?
The first emergency call was made at 7:02 p.m. local time (18:02 GMT).
The caller reported that a car had driven into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the middle of the city.
The caller assumed it was an accident, police said, but it soon became apparent that was not the case.
According to the police, the driver turned off the street at a traffic light onto a pedestrian crossing and was led through an entrance to the market that was reserved for emergency vehicles, injuring several people on the way.
Unconfirmed footage on social media showed the driver speeding his vehicle through a pedestrian walkway between Christmas stalls.
Eyewitnesses reported that they jumped out of the way of the car, fled or hid.
According to police, the driver then returned to the street he came from and had to stop in traffic. Officers who were already on scene were able to arrest and arrest the driver.
Footage showed armed police confronting and arresting a man lying on the ground next to a stationary vehicle – a black BMW with significant damage to the front bumper and windscreen.
According to police, the entire incident was over within three minutes.
Who are the victims?
It was confirmed that a nine-year-old boy and four women died in the attack.
More than 200 people were injured and at least 41 of them are in critical condition.
The number of dead and 68 injured was previously reported as two dead and 68 injured, but was revised to the much higher total on Saturday morning.
None of the victims have been identified yet, but police in Magdeburg said late Saturday that they were 45, 52, 67 and 75 years old.
Who is the suspect?
According to the BBC, the suspect was identified in local media reports as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen.
He is a 50-year-old Saudi-born psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, about 40 km south of Magdeburg.
According to the police, he is in custody on suspicion of five counts of murder, several attempted murders and grievous bodily harm.
The motive behind the attack remains unclear, but authorities have reported that they believe he carried out the attack alone.
Al-Abdulmohsen came to Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters it was “clear to see” that the suspect held “Islamophobic” views.
The suspect is an outspoken critic of Islam on social media and has spread conspiracy theories about an alleged plot by German authorities to Islamize Europe.
Magdeburg police chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said that the police had previously checked whether the suspect posed a potential danger, but “this discussion was already a year ago”.
One of these tips probably comes from Saudi Arabian authorities.
A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC that it had sent four official communications called “Notes Verbal” to the German authorities warning them about al-Abdulmohsen’s alleged “very extreme views.”
However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that the Saudis may have launched a disinformation campaign to discredit someone who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.
The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, told ZDF that his office received a message from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. He said local police had taken appropriate investigative measures, but the matter was unclear.
He added that the suspect “had various contacts with authorities, insulted them and even made threats, but he was not known for acts of violence.”
ReutersWhat did the officers say about the attack?
“The reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the social media platform X.
According to MDR, the Magdeburg city councilor for public order, Ronni Krug, said that the Christmas market would remain closed and “Christmas in Magdeburg is over”.
This sentiment was also reflected on the market’s website, which after the attack only showed a black screen with words of mourning announcing that the market was over.
In a statement to X, the Saudi government expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims” and “reiterated its rejection of violence.”
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said in a post on
