NATO Secretary General expresses condolences over Magdeburg incident

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has expressed condolences after a car hit a crowd in the German city of Magdeburg.

"Horrific scenes from the Christmas market in Magdeburg. I have contacted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to offer my condolences. My thoughts are with the victims and their families," he wrote on his X (former Twitter) page.

Rutte also added that NATO stands by Germany.

What happened in Magdeburg: a car drove into the crowd at the Christmas fair

There are dead and wounded

The car collision with a crowd at a Christmas fair in the city of Magdeburg in Germany became known on December 20. The newspaper Bild with reference to the rescue service indicated that the number of injured could be from 60 to 80 people. Later, the Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt Rainer Erich Haseloff ("Christian Democratic Union") said that at least two people, including a child, died in Magdeburg.

According to the MDR broadcaster, Matthias Schuppe, the German government representative in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, called the hit-and-run attack on a crowd of people at a Christmas market a terrorist attack.

Later, Die Welt newspaper reported the arrest of a suspect in a hit-and-run attack on a crowd in Magdeburg. It also reported an unknown object in the back seat of the car, which experts believe may contain an explosive device.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed condolences to the families of the dead and injured. The Russian Embassy in Germany is clarifying information about the presence of Russian citizens among the victims. The Bild newspaper reported that Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Feather would arrive in Magdeburg on December 21.