Who is to blame for the attack on the Magdeburg market? What we know so far

On Friday evening, a man drove a car into a crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.

This incident killed five people, including a nine-year-old boy, and injured more than 200, many of whom are in critical condition.

The judge has ordered the arrest of a 50-year-old man suspected of committing the incident before the trial.

Police believe he acted alone.

At 19:02 local time (18:02 GMT), the first emergency call was made.

The caller reported that a car had driven into a crowd at the Christmas market in the city centre.

The caller thought it was an accident, police said, but it soon became clear that was not the case.

The driver, the police said, used traffic lights to block the road and entered the pedestrian crossing, leading him to the entrance of the market reserved for emergency vehicles, injuring a number of people on the way.

Unconfirmed images on social media show a driver speeding through a pedestrian street between Christmas tables.

Witnesses described jumping out of the way of the car, running or hiding.

Police said the driver then returned to the road the way he came and was forced to stop in traffic. The police who are already present at the market were able to arrest the driver here.

Footage showed armed police officers confronting and arresting a man who appeared to be lying next to a stationary car – a black BMW with extensive damage to its front bumper and windscreen.

The whole incident was over in three minutes, said the police.

A nine-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 have been confirmed dead in the attack.

More than 200 people were injured and at least 41 of them are in critical condition.

Earlier, the number was reported as two dead and 68 injured, but it was updated to a much higher number on Saturday morning.

None of the dead have been identified.

The suspect has been identified in local media reports as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, the BBC understands.

He is a 50-year-old Saudi-born psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

He is being held on suspicion of five counts of murder, attempted multiple murder and grievous bodily harm, police said.

The motive behind the attack is still unknown but authorities have reported that they believe he acted alone.

Al-Abdulmohsen came to Germany in 2006 and in 2016 was recognized as a refugee.

Germany’s Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, told the media that it was “obvious” that the suspect had “anti-Islamophobic” views.

The suspect had a website that aimed to help other Muslims escape persecution in their Gulf countries, and was interviewed by the BBC in 2019.

On social media, he is an outspoken critic of Islam, and has promoted conspiracy theories about an alleged plot by German authorities to Islamise Europe.

Magdeburg police chief, Tom-Oliver Langhans, said that the police had previously investigated whether the suspect might be dangerous, “but that discussion was last year”.

One of those tips is believed to have come from Saudi Arabian authorities.

A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC it had sent four official notices known as “Notes Verbal” to German authorities, warning of what it said were “extremist views” held by al-Abdulmohsen.

However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that the Saudis may be mounting a disinformation campaign to discredit someone who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.

The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, told public broadcaster ZDF that his office received a notification from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. He said the local police are taking appropriate investigative steps, but the matter is unclear.

He went on to say that the suspect “has been communicating with various authorities, cursing them and even threatening them, but he is not known for acts of violence”.

“The reports from Magdeburg raise serious fears,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on social media platform X.

Magdeburg’s city councilor for public order, Ronni Krug, said the Christmas market will remain closed and “Christmas in Magdeburg is over”, according to German public broadcaster MDR.

That view was echoed on the market’s website, which after the attack only showed a black screen with words of mourning, announcing that the market was over.

The Saudi government expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims”, in a statement to X, and “confirmed its rejection of violence”.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked by the brutal attack in Magdeburg”, adding that his thoughts were “with the victims, their families and all those affected” in a post on X on Friday night.