ReutersOn Friday night, a man drove his car into a crowd of people shopping at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.
The attack killed five people, including a 9-year-old boy, and injured more than 200 people, many in critical condition.
A judge has ordered the pre-trial detention of a 50-year-old man arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack.
Police believe he acted alone.
How did the attack happen?
At 19:02 local time (18:02 GMT), the first call to emergency services was made.
The caller reported that a car had driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in the middle of town.
Police said the caller assumed it was an accident, but things quickly became clear.
Police said the driver used a traffic light to veer off the road and onto a pedestrian walkway, leading him through an entrance to the market reserved for emergency vehicles, leaving several people on the street. injured.
Unverified footage on social media shows the driver speeding through a pedestrian walkway between Christmas stalls.
Witnesses described jumping out of the car’s path, running away or hiding.
Police said the driver then returned to the road he had entered and was forced to stop in traffic. Authorities present at the market arrested the driver here.
Footage shows 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 windshield.
Police said the entire incident was over within three minutes.
Who are the victims?
A 9-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 were confirmed dead in the attack.
More than 200 people were injured and at least 41 of them were in critical condition.
The toll was previously reported as two dead and 68 injured, but was revised to a much higher figure on Saturday morning.
No victims have been identified at this time.
Who is the suspect?
The BBC said the suspect had been identified in local media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen.
He is a 50-year-old psychiatrist originally from Saudi Arabia who lives in Bernburg, about 40km south of Magdeburg.
Police said he was detained on suspicion of five counts of murder, multiple attempted murders and causing dangerous bodily harm.
The motive behind the attack remains unclear but authorities said they believe he carried out the attack alone.
Al-Abdulmohsen arrived in Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters it was “clear” that the suspect had “Islamophobic” views.
The suspect ran a website aimed at helping other former Muslims fleeing persecution in their Gulf homeland and was interviewed about it by the BBC in 2019.
On social media, he is an outspoken critic of Islam and has promoted conspiracy theories regarding an alleged plot by German authorities to Islamize Europe.
Magdeburg Police Chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said police had previously conducted an assessment to see whether the suspect posed a potential threat, “but that discussion took place a year ago”.
One of those forewarnings is said to have come from the Saudi Arabian government.
A source close to the Saudi Arabian government told the BBC that it had sent four official notices known as “Verbal Notes” to German authorities, warning them about what they considered “important”. very extreme point” by al-Abdulmohsen.
However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that the Saudis may have waged a disinformation campaign to discredit the person who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany. .
The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, told public broadcaster ZDF that his office received notification from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. He said the police Local police have taken appropriate investigative measures, but the problem is not specific.
He added that the suspect “had many contacts with the authorities, insulted them and even made threats, but he was not known for violent acts”.
ReutersWhat do officials say about the attack?
“Reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on social media platform X.
Magdeburg city councilor for public order, Ronni Krug, said the Christmas market would be closed and “Christmas in Magdeburg is over,” according to German public broadcaster MDR.
That sentiment was echoed on the market’s website, where after the attack there was only a black screen with mournful text, announcing that the market had ended.
The Saudi Arabian government expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims”, in a statement on X, and “affirmed its rejection of violence”.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “horrified by the brutal attack in Magdeburg”, adding that his thoughts were with “the victims, their families and all those affected” in a post on X on Friday night.
