BERLIN, Germany: At least five people were killed and more than 200 others were injured after a car rammed into a crowded Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg, the capital of the central German state of Saxony-Anhalt, state Governor Reiner Haseloff said on Saturday.
The Governor said the preliminary death toll had risen from two to five and that many people were critically wounded.
Officials described the incident as an intentional attack and announced that the driver had been taken into custody at the scene. An investigation is underway, Al Jazeera reported.
Local media reports indicate the car involved was seen driving at high speeds before striking the crowd at about 7pm [18:00 GMT] on Friday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was with him to pay respects in the eastern city of Magdeburg, voiced concern for some 40 critically injured people and condemned the “terrible catastrophe”.
He pledged that Germany would respond “with the full force of the law” over “the terrible attack that injured and killed so many people” close to the anniversary of a deadly 2016 attack on a Berlin Christmas market.
Scholz also made a call for national unity at a time when Germany has been rocked by a heated debate on immigration and security as it heads towards elections in February.
The chancellor said it was important “that we stay together as a country, that we stick together, that we link arms, that it is not hatred that determines our coexistence but the fact that we are a community that seeks a common future.”
He said he was grateful for expressions of “solidarity … from many, many countries around the world” and said, “it is good to hear that we as Germans are not alone in the face of this terrible catastrophe”.
