At least two people have died, an adult and a child, and others 68 have been injured in a multiple accident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, northeast of Germany and capital of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. The police have arrested the driver of the vehicle has run over the crowd of peopleevents that the regional authorities have defined as an attack.
The spokesman for the government of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Matthias Schuppe, has assured that the event “it is surely an attack” because of the way it happened, since the car was launched directly into the crowd. Of among the 68 injured15 people are in serious condition, another 37 have moderate injuries and 16 have minor injuries, according to the latest balance provided by local authorities.
The attacker, identified by Der Spiegel by the name of Taleb A., is a 50 year old Saudi doctor who had been in Germany since March 2006. According to the authorities, I would have acted alone. In addition, he was recognized as a refugee in July 2016 and currently had a permanent residence permit in that country and worked as a psychiatry and psychotherapy consultant.
According to information from security agencies, the attack occurred after 7:00 p.m. in the afternoon, when an individual, driving a black rental BMW with Munich license plates, rammed the vehicle into the crowd and covered a stretch of at least 400 meters at the Christmas market, causing panic.
The police suspect that there could be an explosive device inside the vehicle that committed the multiple collision, according to the German network MDR.
For its part, the local newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung has reported that a police search is being carried out at the home of the alleged perpetrator of the crime, in the town of Bernburg45 kilometers from Magdeburg. According to this media, the Police burst into a house located on Christian Strasse, heavily armed.
The person in charge of the Christmas market has called on the population to leave the city centerwhile videos published on social networks show images of the market shortly after the incident, with several ambulances in the area.
“Is a terrible eventespecially now, in the days before Christmas,” said the governor of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff.
The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has acknowledged that the first information that has reached him “they suggest something bad”he said, without giving more details at the moment. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families. My thanks to the dedicated rescue workers in these hours of anxiety,” the German president added on his social networks.
For his part, the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchezhas conveyed to Chancellor Scholz his solidarity and affection for the victims and the German people. “Shocked by the terrible attack at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg. I have just spoken with the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to convey all my solidarity and love to the victims, their families and all the German people,” he said. written Sánchez.
Almost exactly eight years ago, the December 19, 2016, A very similar attack took place at a Christmas market in Berlin, which was claimed by the Islamic State. The terrorist was an Islamic extremist of Tunisian origin who rammed a truck into a Christmas market, killing a total of 13 people and injuring several dozen more. The attacker died days later in a shooting in Italy.
Since that attack, Christmas markets throughout Germany have been reinforced and equipped with security measuresespecially with heavy bollards and ramps, for fear that similar attacks could occur again.
Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler told the second public television channel ZDF that the fact that a car attack was successful points to a flaw in the security concept.
Furthermore, he maintained that the author profile is unusualboth by age and nationality, since the attackers so far have been around twenty years old and since 2001 there has not been a terrorist attack by Saudi Arabia.
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