5 killed, 200 injured in German Christmas market car-ramming

At least five people were killed and over 200 others injured after a car rammed into a large crowd at a Christmas market in the central German city of Magdeburg Friday evening, German news agency dpa reported Saturday, citing State Premier Reiner Haseloff, said Xinhua.

"We have five deaths and over 200 injuries, many of them serious and severe," Haseloff said, noting that the toll was far worse than initially thought when the incident occurred.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed deep concerns over the tragic incident at the scene, saying that "nearly 40 of the injured are so seriously hurt that we must be very worried about them."

Condemning the act, Scholz described it as "a terrible tragedy to harm and kill so many people with such brutality." He called for social cohesion and also vowed that Germany would respond to the attack "with the full force of the law."

German authorities are investigating a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who has been living in Germany since 2006 and worked in a nearby town. He was arrested at the site and taken into custody for questioning. Police searched his home overnight, and authorities assume he acted alone.

The motive remained unclear and police have not yet named the suspect.

German authorities were alerted about the man about a year ago, dpa reported.

The identities of the fatalities have not been revealed. Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market. A memorial service is to be held in Magdeburg's cathedral at 7 p.m. (1800 GMT) Saturday night.

Scholz and other top officials, including Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, have arrived in Magdeburg on Saturday. Faeser ordered Saturday morning that all flags at all federal buildings be flown at half-mast nationwide.

Magdeburg, a city of approximately 237,000 residents, is located in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, about 150 km west of Berlin.

The incident echoes a tragic attack eight years ago, on Dec. 19, 2016, when a terrorist drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring over 70 others. The perpetrator fled to Italy, where he was eventually shot dead by police.