a car rushes into a Christmas market, at least two dead and 60 injured, “an attack” suspected

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A car hit visitors to a Christmas market this Friday, December 20, 2024, around 7 p.m. The incident took place at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany (west of Berlin).

There would be between 60 and 80 injureda spokesperson for the local emergency services told AFP, as well as several deaths. The driver was arrested. Regional authorities suspect “an attack”.

The driver of Saudi origin

The Minister-President of the Saxony-Anhalt region, Reiner Haseloff, indicated that the driver of the vehicle which drove into the crowd was a national of Saudi origin. Aged 50, he arrived in Germany in 2006 and has an “unlimited residence permit”.

It is a doctor according to their information, described as a “lone wolf”. A crisis unit is set up.

The toll rises to two deaths

In a final report communicated at 10:15 p.m. by the Minister-President of the Saxony-Anhalt region, Reiner Haseloff, the toll rose to at least two deaths, a man and a child.

“This attack is a horrible tragedy,” he commented.

At least one dead and 68 injured

According to a report communicated by the town hall of Magdeburg, in the evening, the tragedy would have caused at least one dead and 68 injured.

The authorities' first report showed 60 to 80 injured.

Dozens injured

According to local emergency services, several of the injured were “seriously” following this act involving “a car”.

Local hospital services are preparing to accommodate many more victims, according to local media Bild.

Several deaths according to several sources

Some media speak of several deaths, at least eleven, according to Bild. Authorities have not confirmed this information at this time.

“A suspected attack”

The car sped through an aisle of the Christmas market where a crowd was gathered, knocking down many people in its path. The vehicle is said to have driven “at least 400 meters through the Christmas market”. On social networks, the images of the vehicle rushing into the crowd are appalling (actu.fr chooses not to show them).

The driver was arrested. Regional authorities suspect “an attack”.

“We believe this is an attack,” a spokeswoman for the Saxony-Anhalt regional interior ministry told AFP.

Christmas markets, a target

The Christmas market was very busy at this time of year, a few days before Christmas.

The police of this city of around 250,000 inhabitants, capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, speak of a “major intervention” underway on the Christmas market, according to a message on X.

The TV channel NTV showed numerous ambulances and fire trucks at the site, injured people being rushed to hospitals and rescue workers installing aid devices for victims.

The Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, recently called on the population to be vigilant at Christmas markets, without mentioning specific threats.

Christmas markets are an “ideologically appropriate target for people motivated by Islamism,” intelligence services recently warned.

Eight years after the deadly attack of December 2016

Germany experienced a bloody ram truck attack on a Christmas market in December 2016, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, which left 12 dead in the center of Berlin.

Several Islamist-motivated attacks or planned attacks, involving foreign nationals, have shocked the country in recent months.

At the end of August, a knife attack committed by a Syrian and claimed by IS left three people dead and several injured during a party in Solingen (west).

In June, another knife attack, attributed to an Afghan during an anti-Islam rally in Mannheim, left one dead, a police officer who had intervened.

In September, a 27-year-old Syrian man suspected of links to radical Islam was arrested for planning a machete attack targeting German soldiers in a Bavarian town.

More information to come…

With AFP

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