Five people died, including a child, and dozens were injured after it attacker Taleb al Abdulmohsen (50), a doctor originally from Saudi Arabia, drove his car into the crowd at the Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg on Friday Germany, officials said.
According to the German media, information on the number of injured is conflicting and ranges from 60 to more than 200.
Rainer Haselof, the prime minister of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, told reporters at the scene that a preliminary investigation suggested that the alleged attacker acted as a lone wolf and that he could not rule out more casualties.
The motive of the suspect is currently unclear, according to the available data from his profile, it seems that he has no connection with extremism, writes the BBC.
Blamed Germany for alleged crimes against Saudi refugees
Taleb al Abdulmohsen's social media posts blame German authorities for alleged crimes against Saudi refugees and advise against seeking asylum in Germany.
The police searched his house during the night.
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia alerted German authorities to the attacker after he posted extremist views on the X account that threatened peace and security.
A minute's silence at the game
Footage from the scene of the accident shows numerous emergency vehicles as people lie on the ground.
The city authorities announced that around 100 policemen, medics and firefighters, as well as 50 members of the rescue service rushed to the scene of the accident.
When the incident happened, Magdeburg's football team was playing against Fortuna Dusseldorf.
After the match, the team's players gathered in front of their fans.
In a statement, the club said their "thoughts are with those affected by the terrible events and the Christmas market in Magdeburg".
Meanwhile, a minute's silence was held at the end of the match between Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig in Munich.
According to information from Spiegel, shortly after 19:XNUMX on Friday, a black BMW drove into a crowd of people without braking. The police say that he drove about four hundred meters through the crowd like that.
One man was arrested, probably the driver, and the media reports that he is originally from Saudi Arabia and was born in 1974. The car was allegedly rented.
Numerous ambulance and police vehicles were on the scene.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz sent words of support to the families of the victims and the injured.
Scholz: My thoughts are with the victims and their families
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacted to the attack.
"The reports from Magdeburg indicate something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand with you and the citizens of Magdeburg. I thank the dedicated rescuers in these anxious hours," he wrote in a post on the X network.
Scholz will visit the city on Saturday, Haseloff said, and a memorial service for the victims was held at the cathedral in Magdeburg.
Incident history
Friday's incident is not the first time people at a Christmas market have been attacked in Germany.
In 2016, Anis Amri, who was linked to the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, drove a truck into a crowd at a church market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring 49 others.
Two years later, a gunman opened fire at a Christmas market in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, killing five and wounding 11 others.
The attacker was killed by the police two days later.
Just last month, German Interior Minister Nancy Fesser spoke of the need for "greater vigilance" at the hugely popular markets - but said there were no "concrete" signs of danger.
She is also said to have called for stricter gun laws in public spaces after a knife attack in Solingen, western Germany, in August that left three people dead - an incident that reignited an already heated debate over asylum and migration in Germany. .
