A memorial service has started in Magdeburg Cathedral with German chancellor Olaf Scholz and interior minister Nancy Faeser,among the mourners along with German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The cathedral is near the scene of Friday evening’s attack at a Christmas market which has left at least five people dead and more than 200 injured.
Magdeburg city official Ronni Krug said that some 41 of the hundreds injured had either serious or critical injuries.
“I don’t know about you, but I associate the Christmas market with mulled wine and bratwurst, and yesterday [Friday] people died in this area. Others are fighting for their lives,” Krug said.
US president Joe Biden said his team has been “in close touch” with German officials on Saturday following the Christmas market attack and “stands ready” to offer all available resources and assistance if needed, Reuters reports.
“The United States extends our deepest condolences to the people of Germany grieving the terrible attack at a Christmas market yesterday in Magdeburg, Germany,” the US president said in a statement.
“No community - and no family - should have to endure such a despicable and dark event, especially just days before a holiday of joy and peace.
“While this situation remains under investigation, make no mistake: the United States will always stand with our allies against violent terror.
“In the coming days, we will keep all those injured or killed—and their beloved families—close in our hearts.”
Updated
German officials said emergency services received their first call about the attack at 7.02pm local time on Friday (6.02pm UK time).
They said the situation was brought under control by 7.05pm and the suspect was then arrested.
The day so far
Five people, including a child, have died after a car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack.
More then 200 people were injured in the attack, with 40 in critical condition.
Police have arrested a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who they believe is responsible for the attack, according to the German state premier, Reiner Haseloff.
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the attacker after he posted extremist views on his personal X account that threatened peace and security. Der Spiegel reported that the suspect had sympathised with the AfD. The magazine did not say where it got the information.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the deadly attack in Magdeburg as a “terrible, insane act”. He said there is “no place more peaceful and cheerful than a Christmas market,” where people go with friends and family to enjoy a gluhwein (hot punch) and seek some contemplation and joy.
Leader of Saxony Anhalt state Reiner Haseloff describes the scene as “an unimaginable incident”. Haselhof says the scale of the attack is much bigger than previously thought, with the death toll having risen and the extent of those injured much larger than the estimates given last night.
A woman in her 50s with a bad bruise to her right eye, has told the tabloid Bild how she and her husband were “flung in the air” in the attack. She was initially unconscious, her husband suffered injuries to his upper thigh and described how the “flesh was ripped out” of it in the impact.
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed a previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God’s mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
Child, 9, among five killed in Christmas market attack
A nine-year-old was among the five people killed in the Christmas market attack in the German city of Magdeburg, an official said Saturday.
City official Ronni Krug said he didn’t have further information on the adults who were killed. He said there were a total of 205 victims, including the five dead. He said that 41 people were seriously or very seriously injured.
Prosecutor Horst Nopens said the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, is under investigation on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. He is being questioned.
Prosecutors expect to charge the suspected driver in a car-ramming at a Christmas market in Germany with murder and attempted murder, the head of the local prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
The motive for the attack remains unclear but the suspect’s dissatisfaction with Germany’s treatment of Saudi refugees may have played a role, the prosecutor in the central city of Magdeburg told a press conference following Friday’s attack, in which five people were killed and more than 200 were injured.
As we reported, Olaf Scholz has called for unity and extended solidarity with the victims of the fatal attack.
You can watch a clip from his press conference here:
Updated
This ‘wave’ of incomers has been cited by Taleb A, as one of the reasons for his hatred of Merkel. He has, in at least one post, called for her to be killed.
The refugee influx of 2015 fueled the then fledgling party, the AfD, an anti-Islam, anti-immigrant populist force, which has successfully played on the fear of some Germans to raise their profile and gain support. Taleb A has expressed his support for the party, reposting some of its anti-Islam posts and liking some key anti-immigrant influencers who are affiliated with the party.
Before the attack, Taleb A claimed in hundreds of posts on his X account that there was a conspiracy by the German authorities against Saudi refugees. He also made frequent references to “secret operations”. He openly admitted to his hatred for Islam, and said he sought revenge for the fact that Germany, as he claimed, wanted to ‘Islamise’ Europe.
In one of his posts on X from 13 August, he wrote in Arabic: “I assure you: if Germany wants war, we will have it. If Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die, or proudly go to prison.”
The post continues: “Because we have exhausted all peaceful means, we have only encountered more crimes from the police, the state security, the public prosecutor’s office, the judiciary and the interior ministry. Peace is of no use to them.”
In another post in May, he wrote that he expects to die this year. He further claims that the German authorities are corrupt, adding: “I will seek justice at all costs.”
There are reports, citing Saudi Arabian authorities, that security services there had warned German authorities on several occasions about the attacker and his extremist views.
A turning point for Taleb A may have been having his asylum application approved in 2016. It was then that he made public the fact that he has renounced his faith as a Muslim. He said it had turned his family and friends against him, as well as lots of his patients.
He also opened his account on what was then Twitter, and started publicly denouncing Islam.
A lot of detail has been emerging across German media about the alleged perpetrator of the Magdeburg Christmas Market attack, and his apparent motives.
Taleb A (identified only by the initial of his surname according to German legal practice) is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, who came to Germany in 2006, and was granted asylum in 2016.
He worked at a clinic about 15 km from Magdeburg, as a consultant in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Colleagues report of his frequent absence in recent months, due to illness.
His online presence, especially on the social media platform X, is substantial, and he has been at great pains for several years to present himself to the German public, media and authorities as a fervent critic of Islam and in particular a defender of the rights of Saudi Arabian women.
He has allegedly accused Angela Merkel, the former German chancellor, of wanting to “islamify” Germany, with her decision to keep the country’s borders open to refugees in 2015, which led to many hundreds of thousands arriving from the Middle East, in particular from Syria and Iraq.
A woman in her 50s with a bad bruise to her right eye, has told the tabloid Bild how she and her husband were “flung in the air” in the attack.
She was initially unconscious, her husband suffered injuries to his upper thigh and described how the “flesh was ripped out” of it in the impact.
“We were flung through the air,” she said. “I don’t know how. I was unconscious. At some point I came round. There were lights everywhere and three young women looking after me … I thought I was in a dream.”
She asked for her husband. He in turn had been searching for her, showing people a photograph of her on his phone and the two were reunited.
“My husband needs an operation, but it can probably wait. The doctors have enough to do right now. It could have been much worse,” she said.
Scholz added it was necessary to “clarify... with the utmost precision” what had happened, especially the motives of the attacker.
“We have to understand his actions, his motives in order to then respond with the criminal law and other necessary consequences. And we will,” he said, promising that the “full force of the law” would be applied.
Scholz said the attack was all the more shocking having taken place on almost precisely the same day eight years ago that an Islamist terrorist drove a stolen lorry into a Christmas market on Breitscheid Platz in the centre of west Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring many more.
He said it was important at time of such tragedy, that Germans stuck together as a country “that we stay together and talk... and that it is not hatred that determines our coexistence, but the fact that we are a community that is working for a common future, and that we do not let those who spread hatred get away with it.”
He ended his almost five minute speech on the market square, by saying he had received many messages of solidarity from around the world, from “many, many countries ... Many people have said this to me personally and written to me. They also made it public.”
At a time when the country was in “deep mourning”, it was “good to hear that we as Germans are not alone in the face of this terrible catastrophe.”
Scholz: impact of attack goes beyond those physically injured
We’ve got a bit more from Scholz, who has expressed his appreciation for all of those who immediately came to aid of those who had been injured in the attack.
It’s impressive how quickly the police, fire brigade and emergency services got here, how many people made their way from very different places to help here in a concrete and quick way.
He said he had had a “moving conversation” with some of the emergency services working on the scene, who through their professionalism and speed had prevented the situation from being any worse than it was.
He said as well as the devastating effect the attack would have on the lives of many caught up in it, the effect on the rescue workers would also be immense.
They will struggle with it. That’s why we’ve already said that we will ask those everywhere in Germany who can support this professionally to do so...so that no one is left alone.
And of course the same applies even more to the injured and their relatives who now need our help in the hospitals, but who also need to be supported in view of the terrible catastrophe into which their lives have plunged.
He said they were “innocent victims of a terrible, insane act”.
Here are some of the latest images from Magdeburg:
Key points so far from Scholz's press conference
Here are some of the main points made by Olaf Scholz as he addressed journalists on the scene of the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg.
On Christmas markets:
There is no place more peaceful and joyful than a Christmas market. People come together a few days before Christmas...to be together in contemplation but also to celebrate. To drink a mulled wine, to eat a bratwurst.
On the attack:
What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality. We have now learned that there are over 200 who were injured. Five have died so far, an incredible number, almost 40 are so seriously injured that we have to be very worried about them.
On the reaction:
And that’s why this is a terrible, tragic event.... We all have to show our compassion for the relatives, for the injured, for the city of Magdeburg. And that is why, as chancellor, I want to assure you of the solidarity of the entire country and everyone who bears responsibility in Germany in this matter. This goes deeply to the heart and we will and we must stand together here.
Updated
The day so far
It is 1.15pm in Magdeburg, here is what we know so far:
Five people, including a small child, have died after a car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack.
More then 200 people were injured in the attack, with 40 in critical condition.
Police have arrested a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who they believe is responsible for the attack, according to the German state premier, Reiner Haseloff.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the deadly attack in Magdeburg as a “terrible, insane act”. He said there is “no place more peaceful and cheerful than a Christmas market,” where people go with friends and family to enjoy a gluhwein (hot punch) and seek some contemplation and joy.
Leader of Saxony Anhalt state Reiner Haseloff describes the scene as “an unimaginable incident”. Haselhof says the scale of the attack is much bigger than previously thought, with the death toll having risen and the extent of those injured much larger than the estimates given last night.
Olaf Scholz has called for solidarity at this difficult time:
It is important to me that we stay together as a country, that hatred does not determine how we live together.
While many of the Christmas lights in Magdeburg city centre have now been turned off, a big wheel on a funfair close to the market stands static on the skyline, and the stalls of the market are shuttered, the chimes of a clock from a church at noon still rang out with the melody of a favourite German Christmas carol, ‘Fröhliche Weihnacht Überall’ or ‘Merry Christmas Everywhere’.
The opening line of it is: “Merry Christmas! Everywhere a joyful sound rings through the air.”
It was a painful reminder of the celebrations that Magdeburgers had been preparing for just hours ago and how their joy has now been shattered by the murderous attack, which will overshadow Christmas across the country.
As one leading Magdeburg official said last night: “Christmas is over in Magdeburg.”
Scholz: Attack was 'terrible, insane' act
Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the deadly attack in Magdeburg as a “terrible, insane act”.
He said there is “no place more peaceful and cheerful than a Christmas market,” where people go with friends and family to enjoy a gluhwein (hot punch) and seek some contemplation and joy.
“What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.”
Earlier, he and ministers from his government laid flowers at the site of the attack.
Updated
Scholz: 40 people so badly injured that we have to be very concerned
Scholz has just addressed journalists on the market square.
He said he had been informed about the extent of the attack and was shocked at the scale of it.
“Almost 40 people are so badly injured that we have to be very concerned about them,” he said.
Updated
Leader of Saxony Anhalt state Reiner Haseloff describes the scene as “an unimaginable incident”.
Haselhof says the scale of the attack is much bigger than previously thought, with the death toll having risen to five and the extent of those injured much larger than the estimates given last night.
He says that the attack is now part of Magdeburg’s history and will shape the identity of the city. He says the scale of the attack is also huge for the entire country.
He thanks the emergency workers, without whose work the situation could have been much much worse, he says.
He says this evening the cathedral in Magdeburg will hold a ceremony to bring together the citizens of Magdeburg.
He says “security will be something about which there need to be much clearer discussions in the future, but the time for that is not now”.
He adds: “Now is the time for mourning. Protecting Germany’s freedom and democracy remains a clear aim, which is connected with the process of mourning. Let us try to overcome this together.”
Scholz in Magdeburg as death toll rises to five
Within the past hour Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, has arrived in Magdeburg with his interior minister Nancy Faeser.
Together with the leader of the state of Saxony Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, all of them dressed in black, they walked in silence across the Christmas market along the street where the attacker ploughed his car through the crowds last night killing five, and injuring 205, 41 of them critically.
They were accompanied by environment minister Steffi Lemke and the Transport minister Volker Wissing. Scholz is just about to speak to waiting journalists on the square.
Updated
Death toll increases to five
The number of dead has now risen to five people, according to Spiegel.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, is in Magdeburg with interior minister Nancy Faeser.
Journalists are gathered on the market square where the attack took place last night, waiting for Scholz to give a press conference.
The market is surrounded by police from the BKA or Federal Criminal Police who are tightly guarding the square, including the alleyways leading to it.
Journalists have been instructed not to leave the huddle.
The number of injured now stands at 205, with 41 people confirmed to be in critical condition.
Death toll rises to four with more than 200 injured, say German media
Bild, German public-service broadcaster ARD and other media are reporting that four people were killed and 41 were seriously injured in the attack.
In addition, 86 people were treated with significant injuries in hospital, while 78 people suffered light injuries.
According to initial tests, the attacker was under the influence of drugs, the police have said.
Updated
Here are some images of the scene in Magdeburg, Germany, this morning …
Reuters: Saudi Arabia warned German authorities about attacker's 'extremist views'
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the attacker after he posted extremist views on his personal X account that threatened peace and security.
Der Spiegel reported that the suspect had sympathised with the AfD. The magazine did not say where it got the information.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency was not immediately available for comment, Reuters reported.
Death toll in German Christmas market car ramming rises to four, newspaper reports
The death toll in a car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg has risen to four people, and 41 others were gravely injured, the Bild newspaper reported on Saturday.
Eighty-six people are receiving hospital treatment for serious injuries incurred in the incident on Friday evening in the central city, while another 78 sustained minor injuries, the report said.
Police were not immediately available to comment on casualties. Local officials had initially said it least two people were killed and had warned that the toll could rise.
The Guardian has been unable to verify the rise in fatalities.
Updated
Security experts said they were astounded that the man was able to drive into the market despite the heavy-set bollards which had been installed to prevent such an attack.
Hans-Jakob Schindler, a terrorist expert, told German media: “In the first instance it’s a surprise that a vehicle of that size was able to drive onto a Christmas market in Germany.”
Germany is home to an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 Christmas markets which are hosted around the country for about a month, from the end of November to just after Christmas.
Keeping the markets secure has been a major issue ever since 2016 when an Islamist extremist attacker drove a truck into a crowd of Christmas market-goers in Berlin, leaving 13 people dead and dozens more injured. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
A witness identified as Nadine, 32, from Wolfsburg, has told the tabloid Bild she was looking for her boyfriend Marco, who was torn from her side when the car raced into the crowds.
He was hit by the car and ripped away from me. It was terrible. No one even screamed. I didn’t even hear the car.
Marco received injuries to his head and leg, she said.
We don’t know what hospital he’s been sent to. The uncertainty is unbearable.
Updated
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and interior minister Nancy Faeser are due to travel to Magdeburg today, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening.
Scholz wrote on X:
My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.
Updated
What do we know about the suspect?
The man arrested has been identified as Taleb A., a 50-year-old medical doctor from Saudi Arabia.
Saxony-Anhalt’s leader Reiner Haseloff said the man had been living in Germany since 2006. The suspect, a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy, was recognised as a refugee in 2016.
Some German media pointed to the suspect’s past social media posts in which he reportedly expressed views critical of Islam and had even warned of the “dangers” of an Islamisation of Germany.
“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city,” Haseloff said.
The suspect rented the car shortly before the attack, according to reports citing a security source, and was not known to authorities as having an Islamist background.
What happened on Friday evening?
If you’re just waking up to this news, here is a recap of what happened on Friday evening from our Berlin correspondent Kate Connolly:
Scores of people were injured and at least two people, including a small child, were killed on Friday after a car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack.
At least 68 other people were injured, including 15 who were left in a critical state, according to the city government.
In the attack, a black BMW drove straight into the crowd at the Christmas market, travelling at speed for 400 metres in the direction of the town hall, according to eyewitnesses cited by the broadcaster.
Videos posted on social media showed a dark-coloured car driving into the crowds at high speed. Several media outlets showed the videos in their coverage, but the authenticity of the footage has yet to be officially confirmed.
Emergency workers were seen treating victims on the ground at the market, surrounded by blood. Makeshift tents were erected at the site. Witnesses reported hearing cries and screams. The operator of a food stall on the market described the scenes as “reminiscent of a war”.
The driver of the car was immediately arrested, and later identified as Taleb A., a 50-year-old medical doctor from Saudi Arabia.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello, we are restarting our live coverage of the attack in Germany in which a driver ploughed a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern town of Magdeburg on Friday evening, leaving at least two people dead and 68 injured.
Fifteen people were left in a critical condition and a small child was among the fatalities, government officials said.
Police have arrested a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who they believe is responsible for the attack, according to the German state premier, Reiner Haseloff. The premier who was on his way to Magdeburg on Saturday and described the incident as “a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas”.
The suspect was identified as Taleb A. He had been living in Germany since 2006, Haseloff said. The man, a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy, was recognised as a refugee in 2016.
“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator,” Haseloff said. “So that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city.”
In other developments:
Emergency workers were seen treating victims on the ground at the market, surrounded by blood. Makeshift tents were erected at the site. Witnesses reported hearing cries and screams. The operator of a food stall at the market described the scenes as “reminiscent of a war”.
The car, a dark BMW drove, straight into the crowd at speed at the market, witnesses were reported as saying, while apparent videos of the ramming were posted on social media.
Police cleared an area around the vehicle after the incident to investigate a possible explosive device, according to local broadcaster MDR, which later cited police as saying no such device had been found.
A police operation was also under way in the town of Bernburg, south of Magdeburg, where the suspect is believed to have lived, local newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported.
Hospitals within a 80km (50-mile) radius of Magdeburg were geared up to take patients, while all the region’s emergency helicopters were deployed to the area. Magdeburg’s University hospital said it was treating 10 to 20 patients and preparing for more, German press agency dpa reported. Emergency services said the number of injured might be as high as 80.
Saudi Arabia condemned the attack, with its ministry of foreign affairs saying the kingdom expressed its “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims”.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said his “thoughts are with the victims and their families”. He was due to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday along with the interior minister, Nancy Faeser.
The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, wrote that “the anticipation of a peaceful Christmas was suddenly interrupted” in the attack but cautioned that “the background to the terrible deed has yet been clarified”.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said he was “horrified” by the attack and “we stand with the people of Germany”.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he was “profoundly shocked” by the attack an that he “shares the pain of the German people”.
Updated
