Car ramming attack on German Christmas market kills 5, wounds 200

The suspect is a 50 year old Saudi doctor who has lived in Germany for nearly 20 years.

By Reuters and World Israel News Staff

On Friday, a car ramming attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany killed five people and wounded 200.

The suspect in the ramming attack is a Saudi doctor with a history of anti-Islam rhetoric.

Those killed were a nine-year-old child and four adults, Magdeburg city official Ronni Krug said, adding that some 41 of the injured had either serious or critical injuries.

“I don’t know about you, but I associate the Christmas market with mulled wine and bratwurst, and yesterday people died in this area. Others are fighting for their lives,” Krug said.

The attack is expected to spark debates about security and immigration ahead of Germany’s elections in February, and polls indicate that the far right is expected to make a strong showing.

Although the Saudi doctor’s motive was unclear, Magdeburg prosecutor, Horst Nopens, said one possible factor could be what he called the suspect’s frustration with Germany’s handling of Saudi refugees.

The suspect, a 50-year-old psychiatrist who has lived in Germany for almost two decades, was arrested at the scene.

The deadly attack, which has shaken Germany, continued for more than three minutes.

The attacker used emergency exits to navigate his way into a position where he could speed into a large crowd of people and do maximum damage.

“What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people with such brutality,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a visit to the city, where he laid a white rose at a church.

A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the suspect after he posted extremist views on his X account that threatened peace and security.

A German security source said Saudi authorities had sent several tips in 2023 and 2024 and that these had been passed on to the relevant security authorities.