December 21, 2024 - Coverage of the Germany Christmas market attack

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage of the Germany Christmas market attack. Read more here.

A police officer walks through the shuttered Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 21.

A nine-year-old child is among the five people who died in a car-ramming in a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, according to officials.

Authorities have arrested a suspect, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, who is thought to have been a former Muslim who renounced his faith and became increasingly anti-Islam.

The deadly incident comes less than two months before the country heads to the polls for snap elections, as debate over Germany’s migration policy rages.

Here’s what you need to know:

Reuters news agency released this image of the suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, sourcing it from a US-based activist group called RAIR Foundation USA.

A photograph has emerged of a man identified as the suspect in an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, which killed at least five people and injured more than 200 on Friday.

The Reuters news agency released the image of the suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, sourcing it from a US-based activist group RAIR Foundation USA.

The suspect has not been formally identified by authorities, but German media has named him as Taleb A.

RAIR Foundation USA says it previously conducted an interview with al-Abdulmohsen on December 12.

The statement from RAIR Foundation USA, shared by Reuters, said al-Abdulmohsen had presented himself as someone assisting “ex-Muslim refugees fleeing persecution from Saudi Arabia.”

RAIR Foundation describes itself as a grassroots, activist organization, “leading a movement to reclaim our Republic from the network of individuals and organizations waging war on Americans, our Constitution, our borders and our Judeo-Christian values.”

Closed stalls are seen at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 21.

Saudi Arabia sent multiple warnings to German authorities about the man suspected of killing five people and injuring more than 200 others at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, two sources with knowledge of the communication told CNN.

One source told CNN the Saudis alerted Germany to the individual identified by German media as Taleb A. in four official notifications. The notifications, known as “Notes Verbal,” were sent to the German intelligence services, with one to the country’s foreign ministry. The source said all of the warnings were ignored.

The source said the complaints about the man revolved around his efforts to “entice” Saudis to leave the country and their religion. The source added that Saudi Arabia was aware of the man’s “fairly radical perspective.”

CNN previously reported that Saudi Arabia had warned German officials about the suspected attacker three times, citing a source with knowledge of the communications.

The first warning came in 2007 and was connected to concerns held by Saudi authorities that Taleb A. had expressed radical views of varying kinds.

Extradition request allegedly refused: Saudi Arabia considers him a fugitive and requested his extradition from Germany between 2007 and 2008, the source said, adding that German authorities refused, citing concerns for the man’s safety should he return.

Saudi authorities alleged that the man had harassed Saudis abroad who opposed his political views. They also noted that he had become a supporter of the far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD), and had developed radical anti-Islamic views, the source said.

CNN reached out to Germany’s foreign ministry for comment and was referred to the Ministry of Interior, which in turn referred it to the public prosecutor’s office in Magdeburg.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt’s match against Mainz in Frankfurt on Saturday, a moment of silence was observed by the teams and fans in attendance in honor of the victims of the attack in Magdeburg.

Earlier on Saturday, the German Bundesliga reposted a message from the German Football League (DFL) on X saying, “German professional football mourns the victims of the attack in #Magdeburg. The DFL recommends wearing a black armband for #Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches this weekend and supports a minute’s silence before kick-off.”

US President Joe Biden expressed his “deepest condolences” after the horrific attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday.

People visit a makeshift memorial near the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 21.

As night falls upon Magdeburg, CNN’s senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen reflects on the atmosphere in the German city, less than 24 hours after a deadly attack at a Christmas market killed at least five people and injured many more.

“They had basically turned the entire city center of Magdeburg into an emergency room,” he added.

But now, all of that frenzy has disappeared and turned into pure sorrow for many of the city’s residents. For others, tensions are running high, with some questioning if they will be better protected in the future.

A constant stream of mourners has been laying flowers and candles near the scene of the incident all day Saturday. An official memorial service will be held this evening.

The suspect in a deadly car ramming at a German market may have been unhappy with Germany’s treatment of Saudi refugees, a prosecutor said.

But speaking at a media briefing on Saturday, Dr. Horst Nopens, Head of the Magdeburg Public Prosecutor’s office, said a motive was still to be determined.

He said that the perpetrator had been detained and questioned, and he is understood to have been acting alone. Next steps will see the public prosecutor’s office apply for an arrest warrant and put him in custody.

Nopens referred to possible “dissatisfaction” over the treatment of Saudi Arabian refugees in Germany, but added the office “needed more time” to determine this.

It comes after Germany’s interior minister described the suspect as Islamophobic earlier on Saturday. The suspect is thought to have helped Saudis, particularly woman, leave the country.

Nopens suggested the suspect could face charges of murder on five counts and 205 attempted murders.

At the same conference, Krug said a nine-year-old child and four adults were killed in the Magdeburg Christmas market attack.

Local public broadcaster MDR previously reported the child victim was a toddler, citing the regional prime minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff.

This post has been updated.

A press conference is underway, where a city official said Friday was a “black day” for Magdeburg, adding that the horror events that unfolded would now forever be part of the city’s history.

City official Ronni Krug said that they had been “deeply shaken” by yesterday’s car-ramming attack in which at least five people were killed and over 200 were injured, adding that no one in the city’s administration “slept well” last night.

He said that the city of Magdeburg made the “difficult” decision to shut down its Christmas market following Friday’s fatal incident, for reasons that are “self-explanatory.”

He added that the city’s Christmas lights will also be switched off for the foreseeable future, although they would hold conversations with state politicians over when they might be turned back on as they offered a “sign of hope” to people.

People lay flowers at the entrance of a church near the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 21.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will attend a vigil this evening at Magdenburg’s Johanniskirche (St. John’s Church) nearby the site of Friday evening’s car-ramming attack, CNN’s affiliate network NTV has said.

The service will start at 7 p.m. local time, officials said.

Crowds have already developed outside the church, as dozens of people lay down bouquets of flowers and candles in memory of those impacted by the fatal attack in the city on Friday evening.

Constant streams of mourners young and old have been visiting the church throughout the day. Occasional emergency vehicle sirens have broken the silence of the otherwise quiet streets.

All municipal cultural institutions in Magdeburg, including theaters and museums, will remain closed for the next few days as a sign of mourning, the city’s mayor Simone Borris has said.

Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), greets rescue workers as he visits the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 21.

Friedrich Merz, the leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and favorite to become Germany’s next chancellor, has said that Friday’s car-ramming attack does not “fit the pattern” Germany has seen so far.

Nevertheless, he said, “yesterday’s terrible act in Magdeburg does not fit the pattern we have seen so far.”

Politicians are therefore required to judge what happened on Friday only on the basis of reliable information, Merz said.

Germany has previously seen Islamist-motivated car-ramming attacks but Merz’s comments come after the interior minister called the suspect, a Saudi man, an “Islamophobe.”

Merz said he regretted the fact that it was impossible to gather and celebrate in a carefree manner, without fear and worry.

Merz looks on track to become the next leader of Germany. His centrist CDU party is leading in opinion polls, after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote earlier this month, meaning snap elections will be held in February.

Elon Musk is pictured in Washington, DC, on November 13.

Elon Musk has labeled German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “incompetent fool” and called on him to resign “immediately” in a comment posted on X.

The remarks were made in response to a social media post about Friday evening’s Magdeburg attack, which quoted the German chancellor’s statement about standing with the people of the city.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We are at their side and at the side of the people of Magdeburg,” Scholz said Friday night.

“Scholz should resign immediately. Incompetent fool,” replied Musk, who yesterday came out in support of the far-right party Alternative for Germany, or AfD, after it was confirmed snap elections will take place next year.

It’s not the first time that Musk has thrown criticism at the German chancellor. Last month the billionaire Trump ally labeled Scholz a “fool” after his governing coalition collapsed.

Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the suspect in Friday’s deadly car-ramming attack an “Islamophobe.”

She gave few other details, but German media have named Friday’s suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi, as Taleb A, and he’s thought to have worked to help fellow Saudis leave their home country.

On social media he appeared to have expressed anti-Islam views and support for the far-right AfD.

Speaking from the city of Magdeburg, where the attack occurred, Faeser said investigations were just beginning.

Friday’s attack, in which at least five people were killed and over 200 injured, has raised questions over how the attacker was able to gain access to the event via car and ram his vehicle into the bustling crowds.

The incident is similar to a 2016 Christmas market terror attack at a market in Berlin that left 13 dead. Security measures at markets across Germany were significantly tightened in the wake of that attack.

German Justice Minister Volker Wissing, speaking alongside Faeser, said that a decision would soon be made whether Germany’s federal prosecutor would lead the case. The office is the country’s highest legal authority and would deal with acts of terrorism.

Security forces stand guard at the entrance of the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 21.

Eyewitnesses to a fatal car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday described scenes of horror, after a car plowed into the bustling crowds and killed at least five people.

A toddler was among those killed in the attack, in which over 200 others were injured.

Speaking to German tabloid Bild, a firefighter named Christian said he rushed to the market immediately after the attack.

“The only thing that flashed through my head was: Which one of them am I helping now? I then grabbed the injured people who didn’t have anyone with them and took them to the respective treatment centers.”

Another woman, Nadine, attended the market with her boyfriend, Marco. She described the moment he was ripped away from her by the attacker’s oncoming car.

Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen was attending a concert in a nearby church when the attack happened. Speaking to German news agency DPA she said that the screech of the sirens and the cacophony of noises were so loud she could immediately tell something “terrible” had happened.

She described the attack as a “dark day” for Magdeburg, adding, “We are shaking.”

Berlin is increasing the police presence at the city’s Christmas markets following the attack in Magdeburg on Friday evening.

“The security authorities are in close contact with each other. As a precaution, the Berlin police will increase their presence at the city’s Christmas markets,” the city’s Interior Minister Iris Spranger said in a statement posted on X.

Friday’s attack came eight years after a similar attack at a Christmas market in Berlin when a hijacked truck barreled into a crowd.

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann has admitted his surprise as more details emerge about the man suspected of carrying out the fatal car-ramming attack in Magdeburg on Friday.

German media have named the man, a 50-year-old Saudi, as Taleb A, and he’s thought to have worked to help fellow Saudis leave their home country.

On social media the suspect appears to have expressed anti-Islam views and support for the far-right AfD.

People leave candles and flowers near the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 21.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that nearly 40 people were critically injured in Friday’s car-ramming attack in the German city of Magdeburg, adding he was “very worried” for them.

“There is no more peaceful, more joyous place in Germany than Christmas markets when people come together ahead of the Christmas festival and spend some time together, drink mulled wine, have a sausage together to relax together,” Scholz told reporters in Magdeburg on Saturday.

Scholz continued, “We have meanwhile found out that over 200 people were injured. Five have died until now.”

He added that nearly 40 are so “severely injured” that “we are very worried for them.” He described the figure as “unbelievable.”

The chancellor offered his gratitude to those who rushed to help the victims of Saturday’s attacks, including those who were already present at the market and emergency services who rushed to the scene.

“They did so with huge professionalism and prevented anything worse from happening,” he said.

Emergency services and firefighters respond to an attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 20.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Germany must remain unified after a fatal car-ramming attack in the city of Magdeburg, and not let hatred divide the country.

“For me it’s important that when such a terrible, awful event happens, a terrible attack in which so many people were injured and killed, almost on the anniversary of the Breitscheidplatz terror attack in Berlin, that we as a country stay together and stick together,” Scholz told reporters in Madgeburg on Saturday, referring to another ramming attack on a Christmas market in 2016 that left 12 dead.

The chancellor said it was important to support one another and avoid fostering hatred, and rather remember that Germany “is one society” and will win through a “shared future.”

He stressed that authorities would not allow the perpetrator to go unpunished, and would apply the full force of the law in order to maintain Germany’s unity.

“What is important now is that we investigate what happened and carry out a proper, careful investigation,” he said.

“We must examine this from every angle, and we have promised on a national level and on a regional level that we will all be working together and we have to try to understand what the motive was of the attacker in order to respond with the full strength of the law. And we will.”

At least five people have died in the Magdeburg Christmas market attack, Reiner Haseloff, the prime minister of Saxony-Anhalt state has said.

“It is unimaginable that this is happening in Germany,” he said during a visit to the site of yesterday’s attack.

He added that over 200 people were injured.