The car that was driven at high speed toward a group of people at a Christmas market, resulting in the deaths of at least two individuals, has been captured in initial images. A Saudi Arabian man has been taken into custody by German police in connection with this tragic incident.
Among the victims is a young child, and a total of 68 individuals sustained injuries during the shocking event. The tragedy unfolded in Magdeburg, a city located approximately 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of Berlin.
Photographs from the scene show the black BMW, with all doors open, heavily damaged on all sides and the windows smashed.
In the aftermath of the attack, forensic officers clad in white and blue protective gear, along with blue gloves, were seen meticulously examining every aspect of the vehicle. An investigation has commenced to unravel the specifics of this disturbing event.
One was seen photographing evidence around the driver’s door, as their colleague looked on and held a torch.
Video footage too graphic to share appears to show the dark car careening into the dense crowd, leaving dozens of people lying on the floor.Â
The suspect is a 50-year-old medical doctor from Saudi Arabia living in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, said regional premier Reiner Haseloff, speaking at a scene cordoned off and guarded by police commandos.
‘We have arrested the perpetrator, a man from Saudi Arabia, a doctor who has been in Germany since 2006,’ he told reporters, calling the attack a ‘catastrophe’ for the city and the country.
‘From what we currently know he was a lone attacker so we don’t think there is any further danger.’
German media named the suspect as Taleb A. and said he was a doctor of psychiatry.
The first images have emerged of the car driven at high speed towards a crowd of revellers at a Christmas market on Friday, killing at least two people
Emergency personnel stand next to a damaged car that drove into a group of people, according to local media, in Magdeburg, Germany, December 21, 2024
Special police officers at the scene after a car was driven into a crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 20 December 2024
He is an anti-Islam, AfD-supporting doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 as a refugee from Saudi Arabia, MailOnline can reveal.Â
Taleb A. is a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy from the Saudi Arabian city of Hofuf who has lived in Bernburg, Germany, since 2006 and has been recognised as a refugee since 2016.Â
Analysis of his social media reveals he is a huge proponent of AfD, the far-right anti-immigration party that is currently polling in second ahead of the upcoming snap election, and is a harsh critic of Islam.Â
The account’s bio reads: ‘Saudi Military Opposition. Germany chases female Saudi asylum seekers, inside and outside Germany, to destroy their lives. Germany wants to islamize Europe.’
Posts include retweets of graphic videos, including one of a young Muslim woman purportedly being stoned to death ‘because she had an affair with a young man outside of marriage.’
A second image emerging tonight showed dozens of armed police officers positioned around the perimeters of the crime scene.Â
The black BMW barrelled through the crowd at high speed just after 6pm (UK time) when the market was filled with revellers.
Video footage showed the moment the driver was arrested as police holding handguns shouted ‘lie down, hands on your back, don’t move!’ at the bearded man with glasses, who was lying on the ground next to the heavily damaged car.
One was seen photographing evidence around the driver’s door, as their colleague looked on and held a torch
Police said the vehicle drove ‘at least 400 metres across the Christmas market’ leaving a trail of bloodied casualties, debris and broken glass at the city’s central town hall square.
Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the chaotic site, which was doused in blue police lights and wailing sirens, as the most severely injured were treated on site and rushed to hospital.
Cries and screams rang out as around 100 emergency responders deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.
‘The pictures are terrible,’ said city spokesman Michael Reif.
Friday’s deadly carnage recalled a 2016 jihadist attack in which a Tunisian man driving a lorry killed 12 people in a Christmas market in Berlin, the country’s worst such attack.
A 13th victim died later having suffered serious injuries in the assault, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X that ‘the reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears’.
‘My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.’
Dozens of armed police officers were positioned around the perimeters of the crime scene
Investigators are now combing every inch of the market and the vehicle to determine the details of the attack
Police officers take security measures after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany on December 20, 2024
Footage taken in the minutes after the crash, which happened at around 7pm, showed Taleb A. being arrested at gunpoint by German police (pictured)
Bild reported that the car was driven ‘at least 400m (1,300ft) across the Christmas market’, per a police spokesperson
Scholz was expected to travel to the city on Saturday, said the state premier.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has recently called on people to be vigilant at Christmas markets, although she said that authorities had not received any specific threats.
Domestic security service the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had warned it considers Christmas markets to be an ‘ideologically suitable target for Islamist-motivated people’.
Germany has in recent times seen a series of suspected Islamist knife attacks.
Three people were killed and eight wounded in a stabbing spree at a street festival in the western city of Solingen in August.
Police arrested a Syrian suspect over the attack that was claimed by IS.
In June, a policeman was killed in a knife attack in Mannheim, with an Afghan national held as the main suspect.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote that ‘the anticipation of a peaceful Christmas was suddenly interrupted’ in the attack, but he cautioned that ‘the background to the terrible deed has yet been clarified’.
Video grab taken from a footege by News5 shows an injured person lying on a stretcher as police and ambulances stand next to the Christmas market, where a car crashed into a crowd
Police vans and ambulances stand next to the annual Christmas market in the city center following a possible terror incident on December 20, 2024 in Magdeburg, Germany
Emergency personnel work at a Christmas market after a car drove into a group of people, according to local media, in Magdeburg, Germany, December 20, 2024
Police have swarmed the area around the Christmas market
Organisers have also asked people to leave the city centre
The driver of the car, reported to be a dark BMW, was arrested following the crash which took place at 7:04pmÂ
A car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, leaving between 60 and 80 people injured
The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, which has focused on jihadist attacks in its campaign against immigrants, wrote on X, ‘when will this madness stop?’
The Saudi government expressed ‘solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims’, in a statement on social media platform X, and ‘affirmed its rejection of violence’.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ‘profoundly shocked’ by the attack and that he ‘shares the pain of the German people’.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also condemned the ‘brutal attack on the defenceless crowd’ and Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez voiced his sorrow at the ‘terrible attack’.
