9-year-old among 5 killed in Christmas market attack in Germany
- Last updated: December 21, 2024 | 10:10
A 9-year-old was among five people killed when a doctor intentionally drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg, an official said on Saturday.
City official Ronni Krug said he didn't have further information on the adults who were killed on Friday night. He said 200 people were injured, of whom 41 were seriously or very seriously hurt.
Prosecutor Horst Nopens said the suspect, a 50-year-old doctor, is under investigation on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. He is currently being questioned. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometres south of Magdeburg. officials said.
"There is no more peaceful and cheerful place than a Christmas market," Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. "What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality."
Neurosurgeon Mahmoud Elenbaby said some 80 patients were brought to Magdeburg's university hospital on Friday night. "We managed to stabilise most of them, but many are still in intensive care, and some are also in critical condition," Elenbaby told The Associated Press as he dashed into the hospital cafeteria to buy himself a cola.
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day.
Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed a previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God's mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
There were still no answers on Saturday as to what motivated the man to drive his black BMW into a crowd in the eastern German city.
Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticising the religion and congratulating Muslims who left the faith.
He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he said was the "Islamism of Europe."
The violence shocked Germany and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that's part of a centuries-old German tradition.
It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg's loss. Berlin kept its markets open but has increased its police presence at them.
Associated Press