The death toll at the German Christmas market rose to four, Bild by Reuters reported
By Thomas Escritt and Rachel More
MAGDEBURG, Germany (Reuters) – The death toll from a car crash at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg rose to four on Saturday, according to German newspaper Bild, after the arrest of a Saudi man accused of plowing the car. the crowd.
Scores of people were injured in the attack on Friday evening, which came amid heated debate over security and migration during the election campaign in Europe’s biggest polling economy.
The police were not available to comment on the reported number of injured. Local officials initially said that at least two people had died and warned that the number could rise.
The Bild report said that 41 people were seriously injured, 86 received treatment in hospitals due to serious injuries and 78 others received minor injuries.
German authorities are investigating a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who has lived in Germany for almost two decades in connection with glorifying cars. Police searched his home throughout the night.
The cause was not yet clear and the police did not name the suspect. He was named in German media as Taleb A.
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia warned German authorities about the attacker after he posted extremist comments on his X account that threatened peace and security.
Der Spiegel reported that the suspect sympathizes with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The magazine did not say where it got the information.
Germany’s domestic intelligence service declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.
The German newspaper FAZ said it interviewed the suspect in 2019, describing him as an anti-Islamic activist.
“People like me, who have a Muslim background but no longer believe, Muslims do not understand them and do not tolerate them,” he was quoted as saying. “I am the fiercest critic in the history of Islam. If you don’t believe me, ask the Arabs.”
Andrea Reis, who was at the market on Friday, returned on Saturday with her daughter Julia to place a candle near the church facing the area. He said if it hadn’t been a second, they might have been in the car’s path.
“I said, ‘let’s go get a sausage’, but my daughter said ‘no, let’s keep walking’.
Tears streamed down his face as he described the incident. “The children are screaming, crying for their mother, don’t forget that”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to visit Magdeburg later on Saturday.
His Social Democrats are trailing the far-right AfD and leading opposition parties in opinion polls ahead of snap elections on February 23.
The AfD has led proposals to curb immigration.
Chancellor candidate Alice Weidel and co-leader Tino Chrupalla issued a statement Saturday condemning the attack.
“The terrible attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg during the peaceful period before Christmas shook us,” they said.
A leading member of Scholz’s Social Democrats in the Bundestag cautioned against jumping to conclusions and said it appeared the attacker had no Islamic motive.
“Now we have to wait for the investigation. It seems that things are different here than what was initially thought,” Dirk Wiese told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
