Five killed and 205 people injured in Germany Christmas market attack

The Bild reported that 86 were receiving hospital treatment for serious injuries and another 78 sustained minor injuries in the attack.

The car was driven through the busy outdoor Christmas market on Friday, in what authorities say was a suspected attack.

One of the dead was confirmed to be a young child.

The driver was arrested at the scene shortly after the car barrelled into the market at around 7pm on Friday when it was teeming with holiday shoppers looking forward to the weekend.

A video posted on social media from a position above the market shows 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. Reuters was able to verify the location, with the trees, outline and design of the buildings matching file and satellite imagery of the area.

Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect surrender. He stood in the middle of the road and put his hands up before lying down and waiting for armed officers to take him into custody.

The two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, but officials said additional deaths could not be ruled out because 15 people had been seriously injured.

The violence shocked the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that is part of a centuries-old German tradition. Several other German towns cancelled their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution.

German media have cited that emergency services in the area said between 60 and 80 people might have been injured. 

The driver of the car was arrested, dpa reported, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The suspect was not known to German authorities as an Islamic extremist, dpa reported, citing the security officials. 

State governor Reiner Haseloff told reporters that the suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who first came to Germany in 2006.

He has been practising medicine in Bernburg, about 23 miles (36km) south of Magdeburg.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz said the perpetrator acted alone and that at least 60 people had been injured. The death count has increased to two, Scholz said, Reuters reports.

“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, said at a news conference.

Mr Haseloff said the two people who were confirmed to have died were an adult and a small child, but that he could not rule out further deaths because so many people were seriously injured.

“But that is speculation now. Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many,” he said.

At least 68 people were injured, including 15 who were hurt very seriously, according to government officials and the city government’s website.

It said 37 people had injuries of medium severity and 16 were lightly injured.

Regional government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe and city spokesperson Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate attack.

"The initial assessment is that there was an attack on the Christmas market," spokesperson Michael Reif told MDR. "There are numerous casualties. The fire brigade and police are on the scene and are treating the injured."

Magdeburg’s University Hospital said it was taking care of 10 to 20 patients but was preparing for more, dpa reported.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said the incident was "shocking and despicable." 

"Thinking of and praying for the victims and their families and all those involved in responding to the situation," Mr Harris said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.  

"Families and friends spending time today this Christmas season at markets when this brutal act took place," he added 

Tánaiste Micheál Martin paid tribute to the victims of the incident on Friday night.

He said he was "shocked and appalled" by the reports. 

"My thoughts and prayers go to the victims, their families, the emergency services and the German people," he said. 

"Irish citizens in the area should follow the advice of local authorities."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said reports indicated something bad had happened.

"My thoughts are with the victims and their families," he wrote in a post on social media platform X.

EU president Ursula von der Leyen said her thoughts are “with the victims of the brutal and cowardly act”.

“This act of violence must be investigated and severely punished,” she added on X.

Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told German news agency dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The noise was so loud “you had to assume that something terrible had happened”.

She called the attack “a dark day” for the city.

“We are shaking,” Ms Steffen said. “Full of sympathy for the relatives, also in the hope that nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.” 

Mr Haseloff called it a catastrophe for the city, state and country, adding that flags would be lowered to half-staff in Saxony-Anhalt and that the federal government planned to do the same.

Eight years ago, a truck driven by Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, crashed into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others.

- Additional reporting from the Associated Press and the Guardian