Germany: Saudi doctor arrested for Christmas market car 'attack' in Magdeburg. Who is the suspect?

The attacker drove a car into the Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing at least two people and injuring at least 60 others.

Updated on: Dec 21, 2024, 11:08:24 IST

By HT News Desk

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A Saudi national has been arrested in connection with the attack on a Christmas market in Germany on Friday. The attacker drove a car into the Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing at least two people and injuring at least 68 others in what authorities called a deliberate attack.

Police and ambulances stand next to the Christmas market, where a car crashed into a crowd on December 20, 2024 in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. (AFP)

The incident took place around 7pm, when the market was teeming with holiday shoppers. The driver was arrested at the scene.

Among those killed were an adult and a toddler. Officials also said that the toll could go up as 15 people have sustained serious injuries.

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A video shared on social media from a position above the market showed a car driving at speed through a crowd walking between two rows of market stalls. People can be seen knocked to the ground and running away.

Emergency personnel work at a Christmas market after a car drove into a group of people, according to local media, in Magdeburg, Germany, December 21, 2024. (Reuters)

The incident is similar to an attack in Berlin in 2016 when a driver rammed a truck into a crowd, killing 13 people.

Here's what we know about the suspect so far:

The suspect has been identified as a 50-year-old national from Saudi Arabia.
He moved to Germany in 2006 and had "a permanent residence permit", according to the country's interior minister Tamara Zieschang.
He has been practising medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.
“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know, there is no further danger to the city," Saxony-Anhalt's governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters, according to AP.
The motive for the attack remains unclear. According to local broadcaster MDR, the suspect was not known to German authorities as an Islamist.
In a statement, Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry condemned the attack and expressed "solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims".
It also “affirmed its rejection of violence” but did not mention anything about the suspect.

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