Attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. A car drove into the crowdtoday 20 December 2024 causing at least 2 dead and 80 injured. One of the confirmed victims is a small child'He is not the premier of Sassonia-Anhalt', Reiner Erich Haseloff.
The driver of the car, who was arrested, drove 400 meters into the crowd. He is a Saudi citizen, born in 1974, as stated by the German media. According to security sources, the man rented the vehicle shortly before the attack carried out with a BMW at 7.04pm. The arrested man was not previously known to law enforcement as an Islamic extremist. The police suspect that there was an explosive device on board the car, as reported by the broadcaster Mdr.
“This attack raises the worst fears” declared German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who will be in Magdeburg tomorrow with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, Bild reports.
“From what we know at the moment it was a lone wolf attack so we don't think there are any other dangers for the city”, said the premier of Saxony, Haseloff, confirming that “we have arrested the person responsible, a man from Saudi Arabia, a doctor who had been in Germany since 2006”.
The German police are conducting an operation in Bernburg, the city about 45 kilometers from Magdeburg where the Saudi citizen responsible for the attack on the Christmas market lived, writes the newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, which speaks of heavily armed agents who broke into a house on Christianstrasse. However, police have not confirmed that the operation is linked to the attack.
” “At the moment there are no Italians – said our Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, anticipating the number of victims -. I have now spoken to the crisis unit at the embassy and the German police.”
The Christmas market, located near the town hall, was reached by ambulances and paramedics. Many of the injured people were treated in front of the stalls. In the town hall square which hosted the market, tents were also set up to accommodate the wounded.
