Saudi Refugee Drives Car Into Christmas Market
2 people have died, 15 left with serious injuries (including a small child) and the rest are injured after a black rented BMW car drove straight into the crowd at the Christmas market, in the eastern German town of Magdeburg. Right now local officials in Germany are describing this as a terror attack. (Reuters Report)
The driver of the car was immediately arrested, and has been identified as Taleb A., a 50-year-old medical doctor from Saudi Arabia. Taleb had been living in Germany since 2006 and is a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy and was recognized as a refugee in 2016.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the attack.
Footage from the terror attack scene shows Taleb lying on the ground, his head raised, next to a badly damaged black BMW. A policeman metres from him is pointing a drawn weapon in his direction as passersby look on in shock.
The suspect rented the car shortly before the attack and had “driven deliberately into the section of the Christmas market decked out with scenes from fairytales”, where a lot of families with young children were gathered.
“The reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears,” wrote German chancellor Olaf Scholz on ‘X’. He was due to travel to Magdeburg this morning along with interior minister Nancy Faeser.
French president Emmanuel Macron said he was “profoundly shocked” by the attack, adding that he “shares the pain of the German people”.
This tragic incident had taken place at about 7.04pm local time and was being treated as a terror attack. Security experts said they were astounded that the man was able to drive into the market despite the heavy-set bollards which had been installed to prevent such an attack.
Incidentally, many Christmas markets, including the one on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, which was the target of the attack in 2016, have installed extra security including traffic bollards, in an attempt to prevent it from happening again.
Meanwhile, Germany is home to an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 Christmas markets which are hosted around the country for about a month, from the end of November to just after Christmas.
