No fewer than four people have been killed and over 200 injured after a car drove into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. Authorities believe the attack was deliberate.
Gatekeepers News reports that the incident occurred on Friday evening at around 7 pm when the vehicle hit several people at high speed. Two of the confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler.
Saxony-Anhalt’s interior minister, Tamara Zieschang, identified the driver as a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who has been living in Germany since 2006 and has a permanent residency permit.
“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city,” said Saxony-Anhalt’s governor, Reiner Haseloff.
Haseloff confirmed that an adult and a small child were among those killed. He added that he couldn’t rule out further deaths due to the large number of seriously injured people.
“But that is speculation now. Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the scene and placed a white rose on a memorial. He expressed his condolences on X, saying, “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.”
The Magdeburg Christmas Market has advised people to avoid the area, allowing emergency services to do their job.
