There has been a car attack on the Christmas Market in Magdeburg. Reports of dead are varying, but the Berliner Morgenpost is reporting at least 11 dead and over 60 injured. The driver is reportedly in custody. Welt reports the driver is from Saudi Arabia. We are working on translating German news reports.
Here is a partial translation from Welt. It will be updated as the translation progresses. Translation by Fousesquawk. Also note that this article is still being updated by Welt, so there will be some discrepancies. The latest update states that the suspect is a doctor living in Saxony-Anhalt.
Sachsen-Anhalt
Attack in Magdeburg-Suspect from Saudi Arabia arrested
Posted 21:21
Caption
An auto has driven into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas Market. Numerous rescue services are deployed. The driver is reportedly under arrest.
Sixty to eighty people have been injured in an attack at the Christmas Market in Magdeburg, (and) at least one is dead. A suspect has been arrested. According to Welt's information, he is a man from Saudi Arabia.
A driver has driven a car into a crowd of people at the Christmas Market in Magdeburg. Government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe confirmed to Welt that is was an attack. Also according to city spokesperson Michael Reif, the initial status is "an attack on the Christmas Market". The alleged perpetrator is in police custody. From security circles, Welt learned that he is reportedly a man from Saudi Arabia who was born in 1974.
According to the above (report), before the crime, he rented a car, which he drove to the Christmas Market. According to Welt's information, a piece of luggage was found on the passenger seat. It is not clear if explosive materials were possible inside. This scenario is not yet ruled out by the authorities. The police are also (investigating) whether the driver acted alone.
The car, with which the perpetrator drove "at least 400 meters into the Christmas Market" into the crowd of people, is reportedly still at the location, explained a police spokesperson. It is reportedly a BMW. The (French) news agency AFP reports, citing the command center of the rescue services, there are "60-80 injured". The MDR cites the police that there is at least one dead. Bild and Magdeburger Volkstimme both report at least 11 dead.
According to MDR, the head of the Christmas Market called for (people) to leave the center city. In the meantime, the police blocked off the city center. Drivers should avoid the Magdeburg city center, Volkstimme reports. Pedestrians were ordered by megaphone to leave the city center. According to Bild, the police are searching the closed-off area of the Christmas market for explosives.
Sirens, blue lights, firefighters: The Christmas Market is swarming with ambulances and paramedics, the German Press Agency reports. At a large Christmas pyramid, the injured are being treated. According to MDR, at Halle an der Saale, about 80 kilometers away, all the hospitals are preparing to receive the injured. All the rescue helicopters in the greater Halle area are flying to Magdeburg.
The Christmas Market is located on the Old Market next to the Magdeburg Town Hall near the Elbe. On X platform, videos were seen in the evening in which numerous emergency vehicles were seen. A witness reported to Volkstimme, the perpetrator headed to the Fairy Tale area of the Christmas Market where many families were walking around. She herself and her child were just able to jump to the side.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), reacted with consternation. "My thoughts are with the victims and their families. Stand at your side and at the side of the people of Magdeburg," Scholz wrote on X. "My thanks to the responding rescue workers in these frightful hours."
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had recently repeated her call for Christmas Market visitors to be vigilant. There were currently no concrete indications of danger, the SPD politician said at the end of November. "But given the heightened abstract threat situation, we have further reason for greater vigilance and for taking consistent actions for our safety."
The act is reminiscent of the terror attack on the Christmas Market on Breidscheidplatz in Berlin, which was just commemorated for the 8th time on Thursday. On 19 December 2016, an Islamist terrorist hijacked a truck and drove it into the Christmas market. In this crime, a total of 13 people died, one, years later as a consequence. More than 70 people were injured, many of them seriously. The attacker fled to Italy where he was shot by police.
This article will be continuously updated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This concludes the translation of this article. As noted, it is subject to updates.
*Update: This video from Berliner Morgenpost is translated by Fousesquawk. Hat tip Vlad Tepes and Gates of Vienna for the subtitling. The headline in the upper left-hand corner reads: "Suspect is a doctor:"
Gates of Vienna has video of the incident as it happened.
Volkstimme (Magdeburg) is reporting that according to the latest updates, two are confirmed dead, one adult and one small child. The driver is partially identified as Taleb A., a Saudi doctor residing in Germany. There are also reports based on his social media that he "follows" Alternatif fuer Deutschland, the right-wing party that opposes mass Muslim immigration into Germany. I suppose this will all be sorted out in the coming days.
No comments:
Post a Comment