Two killed and scores injured after car drives into German Christmas market – latest updates | Germany

Video footage showed the arrest of the black BMW’s driver as police, with their handguns trained, shouted “lie down, hands on your back, don’t move!” at a bearded man with glasses who was lying on the ground next to the heavily damaged car.

Police said the vehicle drove “at least 400 metres across the Christmas market” leaving a trail of bloodied casualties, debris and broken glass at the city’s central town hall square.

Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the chaotic site, which was doused in blue police lights and wailing sirens, as badly injured people were treated onsite and taken to hospitals.

Cries and screams rang out as about 100 emergency responders deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.

“The pictures are terrible,” city spokesman Michael Reif said.

At least two people were killed, one of them a young child, and 68 injured, said authorities in the city of Magdeburg, about 130km (80 miles) south-west of Berlin.

The suspect arrested after the attack was a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor living in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, said regional premier Reiner Haseloff.

Saudi Arabia has expressed its “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims” of the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg.

The ministry of foreign affairs also condemned the attack in a post on X, as reported earlier.

The ministry said it “affirmed its rejection of violence” after the attack, in which a car drove into a crowd of people at the market, killing two people and injuring at least 68, in what local officials have described as a terror attack.

• Two people have been killed and at least 68 injured after a driver ploughed a car into a Christmas market on Friday evening in the eastern German town of Magdeburg.

• German police have arrested a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who they believe is responsible for the attack, according to German state premier Reiner Haseloff.

• One of the people who died was a small child, according to Haseloff.

• According to security sources cited by Spiegel, the man is named Taleb A. and first arrived in Germany in March 2006. He was recognised as a refugee in July 2016 and is a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy.

• Magdeburg’s University hospital said it is treating 10-20 patients and preparing for more, according to the German press agency dpa.

• German chancellor Olaf Scholz has issued a statement on the incident, saying that his “thoughts are with the victims and their families”.

• The UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer said he is horrified” by the attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg. He said: “I am horrified by the atrocious attack in Magdeburg tonight. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and all those affected. We stand with the people of Germany.

Saudi Arabia has condemned the attack at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday evening, the Gulf country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Police have arrested a suspect in the attack, which killed at least two people.

Reiner Haseloff, premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, earlier described the attacker as a 50-year-old male doctor from Saudi Arabia with permanent residency in Germany, where he has lived for almost two decades.

“Scholz should resign immediately,” Musk posted on X, in a frontal attack on the German leader, adding: “Incompetent fool.”

It was his second intervention in a day in German politics. Earlier he had appeared to endorse the far-right populist AfD on X claiming it was the only party that could “save Germany”.

The billionaire and adviser to the upcoming US President Donald Trump appears to be increasingly trying to influence politics outside the USA.

In another post he shared video footage that apparently showed emergency vehicles at the Magdeburg Christmas market, commenting “terrible”.

Musk has repeatedly weighed in to criticism Germany’s asylum policies, supporting the AfD’s insistence that it would successfully stamp out irregular migration and increase the deportations of foreign criminals.

An eyewitness told Sky News how he heard people screaming as the car was driven at speed through the Christmas market.

Liam Clowes, 29, said: “I turned around and initially thought the noise was the children’s carousel that was just behind us.

“All of a sudden a car comes from the right of us straight across.

“It was driving at a speed of at least 30-40mph and people were going over the car.

“We knew it was a serious incident as it happened.”

Clowes added the car was about 15 yards away from him and he saw it drive into people.

“The driver didn’t apply any brakes or anything, the car was just driven through people.”

Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who would normally be preparing his Christmas address to the nation, said in a statement: “The anticipation of a peaceful Christmas was suddenly interrupted by the reports from Magdeburg.

“Whilst not all of the details behind the terrible act have yet been clarified, my thoughts are with the victims and their families. I would like to thank all the rescue workers for their efforts.”

Scores of people were injured and at least two people, including a small child, were killed on Friday after a car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack.

At least 68 other people were injured, including 15 who were left in a critical state, according to the city government.

A black BMW apparently drove straight into the crowd at the Christmas market, travelling at speed for 400 metres in the direction of the town hall, according to eyewitnesses cited by the broadcaster.

Videos posted on social media appeared to capture the attack, showing a dark-coloured car drive into the crowds at high speed. Several media outlets showed the videos in their coverage, but the authenticity of the footage has yet to be officially confirmed.