Multiple deaths, dozens injured in Magdeburg market attack

The United States has also offered its support to Germany in any coming investigation. 

"The United States is shocked and saddened by the tragic news from Magdeburg," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. "We are ready to provide assistance as recovery efforts continue and authorities investigate this horrible incident."

Magdeburg Mayor Simone Borris said that a memorial service will be held in the city's cathedral on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time (1800 UTC/GMT). 

A memorial site has also been set up at the Johanniskirche (St John's Church), which is located at the site of the Christmas Market where Friday's attack took place, she said. 

Borris was visibly tearful as she told journalists that she wished to give those affected, relatives and citizens an opportunity to mourn together.

"We will need a long time to grieve," she said. "We will deal with all of this comprehensively."

City spokesman Michael Reif also said that theaters and various cultural events would be canceled in the coming days in response.

Two people were confirmed dead, including a toddler, following the attack with another 60 injured, 15 seriously.

The United Nations expressed their shock at Friday evening's attack in the German city of Magdeburg.

"We are shocked by the news of the attack today in Magdeburg Germany," Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement.

"We extend our condolences to the families of the victims as well as the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Germany. We wish those injured a swift recovery."

British Prime Minsiter Keir Starmer also said he was "horrified by the atrocious attack in Magdeburg tonight. 

"We stand with the people of Germany," he said. 

French President Emmanuel Macron commented both in French and in German online.

"I'm deeply shocked by the horrors visited upon the Christmas market in Magdeburg in Germany tonight," he said. 

"France shares the pain of the German people, to whom it expresses its deep solidarity."

1. FC Magdeburg's players were made aware of Friday evening's attack in the midst of their 5-2 victory away to Fortuna Düsseldorf in Germany's second division.

The Bundesliga 2 match kicked off at 18:30 CET, briefly before the attack took place.

A message about the attack appeared on the big screen in the stadium during the game, however, noting that both of the main blocs of supporters would be toning down their support and cheering for the rest of the game in response.

After the final whistle, the team stood silently in front of their fans who had made the 415-kilometer (roughly 260-mile) journey to follow their team. 

Meanwhile, Christmas celebrations following Bayern Munich's Bundesliga game against RB Leipzig were canceled too.

Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen requested those inside the 75,000 Allianz Arena participate in a minute's silence after the team's victory to commemorate those killed and injured in the attack. 

 

It's around 2:30 a.m. now in Germany and the volume of information coming out of Magdeburg has started to diminish. 

Here's a quick recap of the main details we know so far. 

At around 7 p.m., a man drove a rental car into a crowd of people at the Christmas market in Magdeburg. 

Police and local politicians have said that two people were killed, one of them a small child, with more than 60 injured in the apparent attack, some of them seriously. 

The head of the regional government, Reiner Haseloff, said the suspect was a 50-year-old Saudi national who worked as a doctor and had been resident in Germany since 2006. 

He was arrested soon after the incident at the scene. He currently lives in a town not far from Magdeburg. 

The suspect is believed to have acted alone during the crime, though investigators are yet to comment on potential motives or whether he might have had external support.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz intends to visit Magdeburg on Saturday.

Hans-Jakob Schindler, who formerly was the Coordinator of the ISIL, al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team for the United Nations Security Council, also highlighted the age of the alleged suspect as one of a number of unusual aspects of Friday evening's attack, should it prove to be politically motivated.

Many of the other details, like his long period living in Germany, were known phenomena, he said. 

"We have seen very consistently since 2014, where Germans born and raised in Germany have travelled to Syria to join ISIS," he explained.

"So it’s obviously possible for people to be radicalized who have lived in Germany for a very long time and are then ready to attack."

But he said it was less common for someone of more advanced years, or hailing from Saudi Arabia, to commit such crimes in recent years.

"We have mostly seen the age of perpetrators getting younger. Also the last time a large number of Saudi attackers were involved was the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, when 18 of the perpetrators were Saudi Arabian," he said. 

Schindler also noted that terrorist groups were currently able to focus more on activities in places like Europe given that they were engaged in less combat closer to home. 

"We have seen… the wider indication of these terror networks no longer being under sustained military pressure in Afghanistan, Africa or Middle East and having a much more broader capability of planning and conducting attacks in Europe."

You can watch the full interview here. 

Hans-Jakob Schindler is senior director of the Counter Extremism Project at the International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) think tank. 

He told DW that even though police said they believe the man acted alone, it was too soon to infer from that that there was not a wider network involved.

"I think the announcement is giving the wrong impression," he told DW. "In the car there was only this one individual and it was important [for the police] to highlight that so there was not a panic after the attack that there were other perpetrators in the town."

He said reports of a suspicious bag also being found in the car could point to the suspect having had support. But to the same token, Schindler said, both scenarios remained plausible.

"Obviously, everything is possible to do by yourself, you can rent a car by yourself, you can buy gas canisters by yourself, you can build an explosive device by yourself," he said. "But all these things in combination give the possibility of a wider support network, who were not in the car but helped the man prepare and that is really important to determine."

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement in the early hours of Saturday, "expressing its solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims." 

The ministry also "affirmed its rejection of violence."

DW reporter Jule Giessler is on the scene in Magdeburg.

She said police had told her they had found a suspicious bag in the rental car used in the crime and were trying to ascertain if it contained explosives or dangerous material.

She said they were therefore thinking of clearing people out of homes in the immediate vicinity. 

"The Christmas market is right in the city center, in the so-called 'Alt-Markt'." Giessler said, referring to Magdeburg's historic market and the residential area around it. 

European Comission President Ursula von der Leyen, a German politician and federal minister for years before moving to Brussels, issued a message of condolence in German online. 

"My thoughts today are with the victims of the brutal and cowardly crime in Magdeburg," von der Leyen said. "My sympathies to their relatives and friends, my thanks to police and emergency services. This violent crime must be investigated and severely punished." 

Saxony-Anhalt Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang, speaking alongside state premier Reiner Haseloff at a press conference on Friday night, offered further details about the suspect, saying he was a 50-year-old who had been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 23 miles (36 kilometers) south of Magdeburg.

"As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, meaning that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city," State Premier Reiner Haseloff told reporters.

Haseloff said flags would be flown at half-mast in Saxony-Anhalt out of respect for the victims and that the federal government planned to do the same.

"It is really one of the worst things one can imagine, particularly in connection with what a Christmas market should bring," Haseloff said.

Haseloff announced that Chancellor Olaf Scholz would visit Magdeburg on Saturday "and will certainly not only mourn with us, but also discuss the necessary next steps."

Haseloff also said that given "the seriousness of this attack" he could imagine federal prosecutors also wanting to take action. 

In the event that the crime is deemed terrorist in nature, federal prosecutors would bring the case. 

Magdeburg police reported that they had arrested a male suspect late on Friday. 

They also appealed to locals to head home or stay at home, saying "it would make our work much easier."

In a later update, the city's police said they believed the suspect had acted alone. 

"In the case of the suspect it appears to concern a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia. The man was captured immediately at the crime scene and placed under provisional arrest. We are currently working on the assumption of a lone perpetrator," police said. 

Friedrich Merz, chancellor candidate for the conservative CDU, said he was saddened by the news from Magdeburg. 

"My thoughts are with the victims and their families. I would like to thank all the emergency services taking care of the injured on site," he said. 

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck also expressed shock over the "terrible news from Magdeburg, where people wanted to spend the Advent season in peace and community. My thoughts are with the victims and their families."

Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacted to the incident online, saying "news from Magdeburg suggests the worst." He also and expressed his thanks to first responders.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she had been in contact with her counterpart at the state level in Saxony-Anhalt and offered whatever assistance federal authorities could provide in the investigation. 

"The shocking crime in Magdeburg a few days before Christmas strikes at our heart," Faeser said in a press release. "Emergency services are doing all they can to care for those affected."

She said that she and Chancellor Scholz would also visit Magdeburg on Saturday. 

Two people were killed and more than 60 injured when an individual crashed a rented car into a crowded Christmas market in the central German town of Magdeburg around 7:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Friday evening.

You can read our main article on the apparent attack here. 

Police in Magdeburg have arrested a Saudi national and believe he acted alone. 

Police say the man is not known to have any Islamist ties but said they were still investigating a possible motive for the attack.

Saxony-Anhalt's State Premier Reiner Haseloff said that the man was a doctor with permanent residency status who had been living in Germany since 2006.

km/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)