Christmas fairs in two cities closed after the incident in Magdeburg

Christmas fairs in the cities of Erfurt (168 km from Magdeburg) and Brandenburg (88 km from Magdeburg) were preventively closed after the incident in Magdeburg. This was reported by Izvestia correspondent Margarita Kostiv.

"The terrorist attack in Magdeburg sowed panic throughout Germany. Christmas fairs in Erfurt and Brandenburg were preemptively closed," the correspondent noted.

In addition, police presence at a market in Leipzig has been stepped up.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, the suspect in the hit-and-run attack on the crowd in Magdeburg is believed to have worked as a doctor. He is, as the publication notes, a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. The magazine also learned that the arrested man's name is Taleb A. He came from Saudi Arabia to the territory of Germany in 2006, and 10 years later was able to obtain refugee status.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said on social network X (formerly Twitter) that it condemned the incident in Magdeburg. The ministry also expressed condolences to the victims and families of the victims.

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

There are dead and wounded

About the collision of a car on the crowd at the 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 victims 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 was also reported about an unknown object in the back seat of the car, which experts believe may contain an explosive device.

Later, the press service of the local police clarified that the man who hit the crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg could have acted alone. The Bild newspaper reported that police did not find an explosive device in the perpetrator's car.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and the injured. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Polish President Andrzej Duda and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also expressed their condolences.

The Russian Embassy in Germany is clarifying information about the presence of Russian citizens among the injured. The Bild newspaper reported that Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Feather would arrive in Magdeburg on December 21.