A car-ramming attack left at least two people dead in Magdeburg on Friday evening. The motivations of the arrested Saudi doctor remained unclear.
Two people, including a child, were killed on Friday at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, northeast Germany, in a car-ramming attack, authorities said.
The toll could rise, as more than 60 people were injured in the attack, Minister-President of the Land of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, told the press. “This is a catastrophe for the city of Magdeburg, for the state and for Germany in general,” said Reiner Haseloff.
The driver, a 50-year-old doctor of Saudi origin, was arrested, he said, adding that he may have acted alone. The suspect's motives are not yet known. A Saudi source told Reuters that the kingdom had warned German authorities about the suspect, who the source said had displayed extremist views in messages posted on his X account.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry condemned the attack. “The information reaching us from Magdeburg portends the worst,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a message on X. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” he added.
The chancellor is due to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday. He will be accompanied by the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser. On X, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “deeply shocked”. “France shares the pain of the German people,” he added.
Nancy Faeser asked the population last month to remain vigilant at Christmas markets, which are subject to particular surveillance by German intelligence services. Eight years ago, in December 2016, a truck attack on the Berlin Christmas market, claimed by the Islamic State organization, left 12 dead and dozens injured.
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