Five confirmed dead and over 200 injured at Christmas market
Five people have been confirmed dead and over 200 injured after Friday night's attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. This was stated by the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, according to several media outlets. One of the dead is a small child.
According to police reports in German media, over 41 people are seriously injured.
It was at 7 p.m. on Friday that 50-year-old Taleb al-Abdulmohsen from Saudi Arabia drove his black rental SUV straight into the city's Christmas market for unknown reasons, German media reports.
According to surveillance images and witness accounts, the perpetrator drove at great speed straight through the crowd among the market stalls. He continued to mow down people over a 400-meter stretch until the police were able to arrest him when he tried to turn the car around.
Witnesses describe the following scenes as "war-like", with the ground littered with dead and injured. A huge rescue team quickly arrived and treated people at the scene.
After the police found a suspected explosive device in the car, the entire inner city was cordoned off.
Five people have been confirmed dead and over 200 injured after Friday night's attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. This was stated by the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, according to several media outlets. One of the dead is a small child.
According to police reports in German media, over 41 people are seriously injured.
It was at 7 p.m. on Friday that 50-year-old Taleb al-Abdulmohsen from Saudi Arabia drove his black rental SUV straight into the city's Christmas market for unknown reasons, German media reports.
According to surveillance images and witness accounts, the perpetrator drove at great speed straight through the crowd among the market stalls. He continued to mow down people over a 400-meter stretch until the police were able to arrest him when he tried to turn the car around.
Witnesses describe the following scenes as "war-like", with the ground littered with dead and injured. A huge rescue team quickly arrived and treated people at the scene.
After the police found a suspected explosive device in the car, the entire inner city was cordoned off.
Possible motive: Dissatisfaction with how Saudi refugees are treated
Saudi psychiatrist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen will be arrested on suspicion of five murders and 205 attempted murders, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens announced according to several media outlets.
– It seems that the background to the act may have been his dissatisfaction with how Saudi refugees are treated in Germany, he says.
al-Abdulmohsen has portrayed himself as a political refugee, atheist and strong critic of Islam. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser describes him as Islamophobic. He has expressed support for the far-right AfD party.
Terrorism researcher Hans Jakob Schindler describes his ideology as “very strange”: Hostility towards Islam and Saudi Arabia, and a belief that Germany is trying to Islamize Europe, according to Sky News.
According to German media, he was convicted in 2013 of disorderly conduct and unlawful threats. The day before the crimes, he had a scheduled trial for abusing the German emergency number with invalid calls.
A nine-year-old child and four adults were killed in the attack.
Entered via emergency vehicle entrances
According to German authorities, the perpetrator in Magdeburg is believed to have used emergency exits intended for evacuation and emergency vehicles to enter the market.
The attack has sparked a heated debate about the safety of Christmas markets, especially in light of similar vehicle attacks on Christmas markets that have occurred in Europe.
Ronni Krug of the Magdeburg city council defends the security arrangements at the Christmas market, saying that they were based on well-tested guidelines developed together with the authorities, according to Spiegel.
– On the one hand, visitors must be safe. On the other hand, they must be able to leave the place quickly and safely in an emergency, and that is what these corridors were for, he says.
Saudi psychiatrist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen will be arrested on suspicion of five murders and 205 attempted murders, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens announced according to several media outlets.
– It seems that the background to the act may have been his dissatisfaction with how Saudi refugees are treated in Germany, he says.
al-Abdulmohsen has portrayed himself as a political refugee, atheist and strong critic of Islam. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser describes him as Islamophobic. He has expressed support for the far-right AfD party.
Terrorism researcher Hans Jakob Schindler describes his ideology as “very strange”: Hostility towards Islam and Saudi Arabia, and a belief that Germany is trying to Islamize Europe, according to Sky News.
According to German media, he was convicted in 2013 of disorderly conduct and unlawful threats. The day before the crimes, he had a scheduled trial for abusing the German emergency number with invalid calls.
A nine-year-old child and four adults were killed in the attack.
Entered via emergency vehicle entrances
According to German authorities, the perpetrator in Magdeburg is believed to have used emergency exits intended for evacuation and emergency vehicles to enter the market.
The attack has sparked a heated debate about the safety of Christmas markets, especially in light of similar vehicle attacks on Christmas markets that have occurred in Europe.
Ronni Krug of the Magdeburg city council defends the security arrangements at the Christmas market, saying that they were based on well-tested guidelines developed together with the authorities, according to Spiegel.
– On the one hand, visitors must be safe. On the other hand, they must be able to leave the place quickly and safely in an emergency, and that is what these corridors were for, he says.
Nine-year-old André killed: “My little teddy bear”
Nine-year-old André was one of the victims of the attack in Magdeburg. This is what his mother Desirée wrote in a post on Facebook, which has been shared around 120,000 times.
“Let my little teddy bear fly over the world once again... Why, I don’t understand [...] Now you are with grandma and grandpa in heaven,” she writes.
So far, five people – André and four adults – have been confirmed dead in the attack. Dozens of people have life-threatening injuries, and the death toll is feared to rise.
The suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, will be detained for five murders and 205 attempted murders, according to the prosecutor.
Nine-year-old André was one of the victims of the attack in Magdeburg. This is what his mother Desirée wrote in a post on Facebook, which has been shared around 120,000 times.
“Let my little teddy bear fly over the world once again... Why, I don’t understand [...] Now you are with grandma and grandpa in heaven,” she writes.
So far, five people – André and four adults – have been confirmed dead in the attack. Dozens of people have life-threatening injuries, and the death toll is feared to rise.
The suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, will be detained for five murders and 205 attempted murders, according to the prosecutor.
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