motorist drives into public

NOS News•today, 8:06 PM•Amended today, 11:05 PM

A driver drove into a group of people at the Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg. The driver has been arrested.

The authorities assume it was an attack, German media report. Bild speaks of at least eleven fatalities, but that number has not been confirmed. The state premier of Saxony-Anhalt currently estimates at least two deaths and about fifty injuries.

The car reportedly drove straight into the crowd heading towards City Hall. The vehicle is said to have traveled a total of 400 meters.

The location of the suspected attack:

A video is circulating on social media showing a car driving into a group of people. It appears to be footage from a surveillance camera, which was probably played at high speed. The NOS has not been able to determine that this video was available online earlier than today. The Christmas houses also match photos of the Christmas market in Magdeburg from the past few days.

Please note: these are shocking images.

According to eyewitnesses who spoke to local newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, the driver was driving a black SUV. He drove through barriers to enter the market and then zigzagged, apparently to cause as many victims as possible, they say. When he tried to turn around, he was stopped by police officers and arrested.

The newspaper Die Welt reports, based on security circles, that the detainee is a man from Saudi Arabia, born in 1974. Prime Minister Haseloff of the state of Saxony-Anhalt has informed German media that he is a doctor who has lived in Germany since 2006 and Saxony-Anhalt works. Haseloff further reported that the man acted alone.

He is said to have rented the car shortly before the attack. He was not known to the German authorities as an Islamist.

Images of the arrest of the suspected perpetrator:

German police draw weapons when arresting suspected perpetrator of attack

German Chancellor Scholz said in a statement on X that the reports from Magdeburg “point to something bad”. His thoughts are with the victims and their families. “My thanks go to the dedicated rescuers in these anxious hours.”

A man who ran two stalls at the Christmas market reports to the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung that the motorist drove straight past his hamburger stall and knocked over the counter. He speaks of “war-like conditions”.

In 2016, thirteen people were killed in a truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. Since then, Christmas markets in Germany have been under strict security.

The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reports that the city of Halle, about 80 kilometers away, increased security measures for its own Christmas market immediately after the attack. Hospitals in Halle are preparing to receive the injured.

The Christmas market in Erfurt in the state of Thuringia was evacuated as a precaution after the attack in Magdeburg. The Minister of the Interior of Thuringia says this was done at the request of the organizer. There were no indications of specific danger, Bild reports.

The first images after the suspected attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg show how emergency services arrived en masse:

First images of Christmas market in Magdeburg where car crashed into public