At least 'four dead' including child and almost 70 injured after car ploughs into crowd at German Christmas market

20 December 2024, 19:23 | Updated: 21 December 2024, 09:43

At least four people including a child have died and 68 more have been injured after a car ploughed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany.

The car, thought to have been a dark-coloured BMW, reportedly crashed through barriers protecting the market around 7:04pm and ploughed into shoppers in the eastern German city of Magdeburg.

Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff said the suspect, who has been arrested, is a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor who came to Germany in 2006, named in the German press as Taleb A.

It is believed he was acting alone and was not previously known to security forces.

He was reportedly granted asylum in Germany after expressing "anti-Islam" views in his home country.

According to German media, the suspect had expressed far-right views online and supported the Alternative for Germany (AdD) party.

Saxony-Anhalt's interior minister, Tamara Zieschang, told reporters the suspect has been practising medicine in Bernburg, about 23 miles (36km) south of Magdeburg.

The car used in the attack was a rental vehicle registered to Munich.

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German police suspect there is an explosive device in the vehicle, the German public broadcaster MDR reported.

Sixty eight people were hurt in the incident, which they are treating as an attack, and four people, including a young child, have died according to reports in Germany.

At least 15 people were seriously injured and 37 have injuries of medium severity, and 16 are lightly injured, but Haseloff said he expected the number of fatalities to increase overnight given the severity of the attack.

Government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe was quoted by public broadcaster MDR describing the incident as an "attack".

Police have cordoned off the centre of the city.

All hospitals in the city were told to prepare for a "mass casualty event" and hospitals in the nearby city of Halle were put on standby to accept patients.

Police said on X that "extensive operations" were underway at the market in the city centre, which is now closed.

A second Christmas market in the city of Erfurt in central Germany was evacuated as a precaution.

Video thought to be of the incident shows a car ploughing through shoppers surrounded by stalls on either side, leaving dozens of people on the floor.

Different footage shows onlookers trying to help those on the floor.

Police said the car was driven “at least 400 meters across the Christmas market”.

Footage posted on social media showed at least nine police cars at the site.

The Foreign Office said it is "closely monitoring the situation" in Magdeburg.

A spokesperson said: "We are in contact with the German authorities following an incident in the city of Magdeburg and are closely monitoring the situation.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected."

Tamara Zieschang added: "This is one of the darkest days for Saxony-Anhalt and also for the state capital Magdeburg. As things stand, we have two fatalities to mourn and a large number of injured.

"The perpetrator has been arrested. He is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia, who first entered the Federal Republic of Germany in 2006.

"He had a permanent residence permit and thus a permanent residence permit."Most recently he worked as a doctor in Bernburg [35km; 22 miles south of Magdeburg].

"According to our current information, he acted alone. There is no information on other perpetrators. Everything else is the subject of further investigations."

Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours."

Mr Scholz is set to visit Magdeburg tomorrow.

German foreign minister said: "The images from Magdeburg shock me deeply. For families and friends who wanted to spend time together at the Christmas market, nothing is as it was.

"My deepest sympathy goes out to the victims and their families. My thanks to the rescue workers and helpers."

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "My thoughts today are with the victims of the brutal and cowardly act in Magdeburg.

"My condolences go out to the family and friends, my thanks to the police and rescue workers.

"This act of violence must be investigated and severely punished."

French President Emmanuel Macron said: "Deeply shocked by the horror that struck the Magdeburg Christmas market in Germany this evening.

"My thoughts are with the victims, the injured, and their loved ones and families. France shares the pain of the German people and expresses its full solidarity."

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said: "I am deeply shocked by the brutal attack on the defenseless crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg.

"I stand with the entire government, the families of the victims, the injured and all the German people. Violence must have no place in our democracies."

Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 inhabitants.