A car explodes into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany; at least 5 dead, 200 injured, officials said

Germans on Saturday mourned the deaths of at least five people – including a young child – who were killed, and at least 200 others injured after a Saudi doctor deliberately drove into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday.

The driver of the car – a 50-year-old man who arrived in Germany in 2006 – was arrested and taken into custody for questioning, authorities said. The police in Magdeburg said their current assumption is that the man, who had a permanent permit to live and work in the country, is “a lone criminal.”

Authorities said the driver did not have a criminal record, and it is unknown what the cause may have been. The area around the car was cordoned off by detectives.

The Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, described it as a “single attack.” He told the media on Saturday that the number of dead has increased from two to five and more than 200 people have been injured.

It’s amazing, it’s unimaginable, that something like this could happen in Germany,” said Haseloff.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said about 40 of them were “so seriously injured that we have to be very worried about them.”

German media identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in accordance with confidentiality laws. They report that he was a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who practiced medicine in Bernburg, about 25 miles south of Magdeburg.

Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shares dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islamic themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who have left the religion.

He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he called “European Islamism.” Some described her as an activist who helped women in Saudi Arabia to flee their country. He also expressed support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Recently, he appeared to focus on his opinion that the German authorities were targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside the church near the market on a cold and dark day. Many people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed the attack on the Christmas market last year in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a song about God’s mercy, prayer and solidarity with the victims.

Recounting the horrific attack

The violence shocked Germany and the city, brought its mayor to the brink of tears and destroyed an event that has been part of German culture for centuries.

Bystander footage shown on German news channels showed the arrest of the suspect at a stop in the middle of the road.

“It was a real mess,” Lars Frohmüller, a reporter for German broadcaster MDR, told a CBS News colleague.

“We saw blood on the ground, we saw people sitting next to each other…we saw many doctors trying to warm people and helping them with their injuries,” he said.

“Everywhere there were ambulances, there were police, there were a lot of firefighters.”

The sounds of sirens from first responders clashed with the market’s holiday decorations, including ornaments, stars and foliage adorning vendors’ booths. Footage from the scene of the closed-off market shows debris on the ground.

“This is a bad event, especially in the days leading up to Christmas,” Haseloff said.

Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old Vietnamese manicurist whose salon is located in a shopping mall across from the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard a loud noise and at first thought it was fireworks. Then he saw a car speeding through the market. People screamed and the child was thrown into the air.

The number of people injured was very high.

“My husband and I helped them for two hours. He ran back home and took as many blankets as he could find because there weren’t enough to cover the injured. And it was cold,” he said.

Chancellor Scholz wrote to X: “My thoughts are with those who died and their relatives. We stand by them and by the people of Magdeburg.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also sent her condolences and wrote, “This act of violence must be investigated and punished severely.”

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack on X.

After the incident, the New York Police Department said it had deployed services to various Christmas markets and other locations around the city “out of an abundance of caution”. However, it said it had not identified any specific or credible threats.

Magdeburg, west of Berlin, is the capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 inhabitants.

The alleged attack comes eight years after the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. On Dec. 19, 2016, Islamic extremism he plowed into the Christmas rush with a truck13 people died and many were injured. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of danger at Christmas markets this year, but said it was wise to be cautious.

He said on Friday on social media, “The news from Magdeburg is very shocking. The emergency services are doing everything they can to take care of the injured and save lives.

Chancellor Scholz and Faeser went to Magdeburg on Saturday. In the evening, a memorial service will be held in the city’s cathedral. Faeser ordered that flags be lowered to staff members of state buildings across the country.

The attack prompted many other German cities to cancel their Christmas markets over the weekend as a defensive measure and out of solidarity with the loss of Magdeburg. Berlin kept its markets open but increased the police presence in them.