Emergency companies and firefighters are on responsibility on the Christmas market in Magdeburg on Dec. 20, 2024 in Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg.
Dörthe Hein | Image Alliance | Getty Photos
MUNICH — German authorities stated on Saturday that the loss of life toll had risen 5 individuals, and over 200 injured from a car-ramming assault on a Christmas market in japanese Germany.
The automobile plowed 1200 ft right into a crowd within the slim alley the place buyers had gathered Friday evening. The suspected driver, recognized as a physician from Saudi Arabia who lived in Germany, was detained, stated Reiner Haseloff, premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The suspect acted alone, and there was no ongoing risk to the general public, he stated. Officers haven’t given extra details about a doable motive.
The victims embody at the least one grownup and one baby, Haseloff stated. He didn’t rule out extra deaths as a result of severity of a few of the accidents.
The suspect is 50 years previous and entered Germany for the primary time in 2006, in keeping with Tamara Zieschang, inside minister of Saxony-Anhalt. He final labored as a physician in Bernburg, about 30 miles south of Magdeburg, Zieschang stated.
She known as the incident one of many darkest days for Saxony-Anhalt and for Magdeburg.
A brief video of the incident posted on X and geolocated to Magdeburg reveals a car rushing via a crowd of buyers, hitting dozens as others scramble to security. The car races straight earlier than making a proper prove of view.
The person was driving a rental car, Haseloff stated.
A police officer examines the scene of the crime on the Christmas market on Dec. 20, 2024 in Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg.
Heiko Rebsch | Image Alliance | Getty Photos
Police launched a hotline for individuals affected to allow them to contact their relations. They announced on X that the Magdeburg Christmas market is closed as a result of “intensive police operations” there.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned of a tough time forward.
“My ideas are with the victims and their households,” Scholz stated in a submit on X. “We stand by their facet and by the facet of the individuals of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the devoted rescue staff in these anxious hours.”
Haseloff indicated that Scholz is predicted to go to the scene of the Magdeburg crash Saturday. A memorial service might be held in Magdeburg’s cathedral at 7 p.m. native time on Saturday, town’s mayor instructed Germany’s public broadcaster DW. A memorial web site has additionally been arrange near the assault web site at St John’s Church.
Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck lamented the incident calling it “horrible information” in a submit on X.
With out particularly mentioning the attacker’s nationality, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of International Affairs condemned the assault on X and expressed “solidarity with the German individuals and the households of the victims.”
State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller stated the U.S. is “horrified by the assault.”
“We ship our condolences to these affected and stand by our buddy and Ally Germany,” he posted on X.
In an analogous incident virtually precisely eight years in the past, a driver plowed into a Christmas market in 2016 in Berlin, killing at the least 12 individuals and injuring dozens extra.
The assault reverberated 1000’s of miles away in New York Metropolis, the place police have elevated safety at vacation markets as a precaution, a senior NYPD official instructed NBC Information on Friday.
Extra sources might be despatched to quite a few vacation markets and high-profile areas throughout New York. Threats have been made to some markets overseas, however no particular native risk has been made, the official stated.
