A man drove his car into a crowd of revellers at a Christmas market in <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/germany/" target="_blank">Germany</a> on Friday evening, killing at least two people and injuring more than 60, in what authorities fear was a planned <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/crime/" target="_blank">attack</a>. Police said the vehicle drove “at least 400 metres across the Christmas market”, leaving a trail of bloodied casualties at Magdeburg's central town hall square, before the man was arrested. The driver was identified as a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who first went to Germany in 2006, said Tamara Zieschang, state interior minister. The two killed were an adult and a toddler, said Reiner Haseloff, governor of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. “As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city,” he added. Video released by newspaper <i>Bild </i>showed people trying to help what appeared to be several victims at the crowded Christmas market. Regional government spokesman Matthias Schuppe and city spokesman Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate act. Mr Reif said there were “numerous injured”, but he did not give a precise figure, while deputy mayor Regina-Dolores Stieler-Hinz said at least 60 people had been hurt. “The pictures are terrible,” Mr Reif said. “My information is that a car drove into the Christmas market visitors, but I can’t yet say from what direction and how far.” Magdeburg’s University Hospital said it was taking care of between 10 and 20 patients but was preparing for more. Sirens provided an eerie soundtrack to the ornaments, stars and leafy garlands festooning vendors’ booths at the Christmas market. Footage from the scene of a cordoned-off part of the market showed debris on the ground. “This is a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas,” Mr Haseloff said. Fifteen of the wounded were very seriously hurt, according to government officials and the city government’s website. “Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many,” the governor added. Chancellor OIaf Scholz posted on X: “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.” Magdeburg, 130 kilometres south-west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 residents. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that "the anticipation of a peaceful Christmas was suddenly interrupted" by the tragedy. French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "profoundly shocked" and he "shares the pain of the German people". But the leader of the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, Alice Weidel, wrote on X: "When will this madness stop?" The suspected attack came eight years after an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. On December 19, 2016, an Islamist extremist ploughed through the crowded market with a lorry, killing 13 and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed days later in a shoot-out in Italy. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.
