A Saudi national has been arrested in connection with an 'attack' on a Christmas market in Germany, which left two dead and around 60 people injured.
In what the German authorities called a “deliberate attack”, a car ploughed through a crowd of revellers in a busy Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, around 7pm. A toddler was among the two dead, and the toll could go up as the authorities say that around 15 people are critically injured.
The driver was arrested at the scene shortly after the incident. Videos showed the suspect lying prone on a walkway in the middle of the road as a police officer pointed a handgun at him. Soon, he was taken into custody as other officers arrived.
Who is the suspect in the German Christmas car attack?
🇩🇪 Footage of the arrest of the driver of the car that ran into people in Magdeburg appeared on social networks. pic.twitter.com/uO57E2bgf3
— Petra Poláková 💊(🇺🇲MAGA🇺🇲).... (@PetraPoll17) December 20, 2024
The suspect is, reportedly, a Saudi national. The 50-year-old, who is a medical doctor, has been in Germany since 2006, and was living in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, according to Governor Reiner Haseloff.
"We have arrested the perpetrator, a man from Saudi Arabia, a doctor who has been in Germany since 2006," he told reporters. "From what we currently know he was a lone attacker. So, we don't think there is any further danger."
He has been practising medicine in Bernburg, about 40km south of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang added.
Saudi Arabia condemns attack at Christmas market in Germany
Saudi Arabia condemned the attack on Friday evening, in a statement on Saturday. The statement, however, made no mention of the suspect.
#Statement | The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's condemnation of the incident that took place in a market in the city of Magdeburg in the Federal Republic of Germany in which a car plowed into crowds, resulting in the death and injury of a number of… pic.twitter.com/Ozc85f0GpZ
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) December 21, 2024
Chancellor OIaf Scholz, NATO's secretary-general and the European Commission's president expressed their condolences on X.
A teary-eyed Magdeburg Mayor Simone Borris said officials plan to arrange a memorial at the city's cathedral on Saturday.
#Statement | The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's condemnation of the incident that took place in a market in the city of Magdeburg in the Federal Republic of Germany in which a car plowed into crowds, resulting in the death and injury of a number of… pic.twitter.com/Ozc85f0GpZ
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) December 21, 2024
The incident marred an event that is part of a centuries-old German tradition. Christmas markets are a key part of the country's culture, with Berlin alone seeing more than 100 markets last month.
