Saudi Arabian Doctor Crashes Car Through Christmas Market In Germany's Magdeburg, Two Dead

Saxony-Anhalt's premier Reiner Haseloff said that the death toll could rise due to the severity of some of the injuries in the Magdeburg car crash incident.

The car ripped though the Christmas market while people were strolling.

Source : (Representational Image) Freepik

Two individuals including a child were killed and at least 60 others were injured after a car rammed into a Christmas market in Germany. The incident took place in Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt, which is 150 kilometres west of Berlin, authorities swiftly arrested the driver.

Reiner Haseloff, premier of the state, called it a catastrophe for the city of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt and also for Germany. He also informed that the death toll could rise given the severity of some of the injuries, according to a Reuters report.

Haseloff said that the attacker was a 50-year-old male doctor identified as Taleb A. from Saudi Arabia. The suspect is a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy and was recognised as a refugee in 2016. He also said that the man was a “lone offender” and that there wasn’t any more danger to Germany as the attacker was arrested.

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This is shocking and heartbreaking 💔

The horrific footage of a car plowing through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.

Terrorist attack in Germany’s Christmas Market has killed at least 11 and injured over 60 in Magdeburg.#Magdeburg#Terroristattack pic.twitter.com/omVzVhTHpo

— Sumit (@SumitHansd) December 21, 2024

As per The Guardian, the suspect rented the car shortly before the attack.

According to Reuters, the attacker’s motive was unclear as the suspect was not known to German authorities as an Islamist.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry condemned the attack. The Saudi government expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims”, in a statement on X, and “affirmed its rejection of violence”.

#Statement | The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's condemnation of the incident that took place in a market in the city of Magdeburg in the Federal Republic of Germany in which a car plowed into crowds, resulting in the death and injury of a number of… pic.twitter.com/Ozc85f0GpZ

— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) December 21, 2024

Following the incident, police cleared an area surrounding the vehicle to investigate a possible explosive device. Police later said that no such device was found in the vehicle.

As per Reuters, a video circulating on social media from a position above the market shows a black BMW driving at speed through a crowd walking between two rows of market stalls. People were seen knocked to the ground and running away.

A woman said that the perpetrator had “driven deliberately into the section of the Christmas market decked out with scenes from fairytales”, where a lot of families with young children were gathered, as per The Guardian. She said the paper she had just managed to fling herself and her child out of the path of the vehicle.

Another witness identified as Nadine, 32, from Wolfsburg was walking around the market with her boyfriend, Marco, who was torn from her side when the car raced into the crowds. “He was hit by the car and ripped away from me,” she said. “It was terrible. No one even screamed. I didn’t even hear the car.”

She said that Marco received injuries to his head and leg, but she doesn’t know to which hospital Marco was taken to. “The uncertainty is unbearable”, Nadine said.

“The reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears,” the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on social media platform X. He was due to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday along with the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, according to their spokespeople.

According to a CNN report, US officials are in contact with their German counterparts to offer help as the German authorities are investigating the situation.  An official said "Our condolences go out to the victims and their families, and our thoughts are with the German people during this difficult time. 

Though is unclear if President Joe Biden has been personally briefed on the situation.