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A driver plowed a car into a crowd of shoppers at a busy German Christmas market on Friday evening, killing at least four people and injuring at least 68 in a suspected deliberate attack.
An extensive police operation is underway following the attack at the market in the German city of Magdeburg that happened at around 7 p.m. local time.
Authorities confirmed that a toddler is among the dead, while local media reported on Saturday that 41 people are seriously injured.
A 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia was arrested on Friday following the attack.
Identified as Taleb. A, he has been in the country since 2006 and according to local media outlets, and reportedly sympathised with Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party.
How many people have died or injured?
At least four people were killed in the shocking incident, local media confirmed. One of those killed was a young child.
Authorities confirmed on Friday that 68 people had been injured, including 15 seriously. But local media reported on Saturday that 41 people are now believed to be seriously injured.
German newspaper Bild, reported that 86 people are receiving hospital treatment for their injuries and another 78 have sustained minor injuries.
Local media reports said he was a supporter of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party.
Saxony-Anhalt’s governor Reiner Haseloff told reporters earlier that additional deaths could not be ruled out due to the number of people injured.
He said: “As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city,
“Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many.”
Who is the suspect?
The suspect is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who first came to Germany in 2006, Saxony-Anhalt interior minister Tamara Zieschang told reporters.
He has been named by German media as Taleb. A. He was recognised as a refugee in 2016 and is a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy in the nearby town of Bernburg.
“The perpetrator has been arrested,” Zieschang confirmed. “He is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia, who first entered the Federal Republic of Germany in 2006. He had a permanent residence permit and thus a permanent residence permit.”
The vehicle, a black BMW, was pictured smashed up at the scene behind a police cordon. Officials believe the suspect acted alone.
Verified bystander footage showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road.
“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 at a news conference.
German public broadcaster MDR previously reported that police suspected there could be explosives in the suspect’s car, but police later confirmed none were found after closer inspection.
‘Fairytale’ market turns into ‘war-like’ scenes
A witness told German newspaperMitteldeutsche Zeitung that she and her children jumped out of the path of the careering vehicle as it drove into the crowd.
The anonymous witness described the area as a “fairytale” before the attack.
A man who runs a burger stand told the newspaper that the driver sped past his stall and described the aftermath as “war-like.”
Another witness told Bild that her boyfriend was hit and she is frantically trying to locate him.
The woman, named Nadine, 32, told the newspaper that she had her arm around him when the car came hurtling towards them.
“He was hit and pulled away from my side. He was terrible. Nobody even screamed. You couldn’t even hear the car.”
She said her boyfriend sustained head and leg injuries and she doesn’t know where he is. “We don’t know which hospital he went to,” she said. “The uncertainty is unbearable.”
Where is the Christmas market?
The Christmas market is in the city of Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin. It is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has a population of 240,000.
The large market was bustling on the last Friday before Christmas and was packed with shoppers.
It was evacuated immediately after the attack and organisers have urged the public to stay away from the area.
Footage from the scene of a cordoned-off part of the market showed debris from festive stalls on the ground.
Just yesterday, a service marking the eighth anniversary of an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin took place. In 2016, an attack carried out by Anis Amri killed 13 people and injured dozens more when he drove into a crowd.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
