'ATTACKER' SNARED
Moment ‘doctor in his 50s from Saudi Arabia’ is arrested after BMW ‘drives into crowd’ at German Christmas Market
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THIS is the moment police arrest a Saudi doctor after a car was ploughed into a crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market.
Cops caught the man thought to have driven the BMW SUV in the horror incident in Magdeburg, central Germany.
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At least four people are dead, including a small child, and up to 86 are injured - with dozens left in a critical condition.
The suspect - reported to be aged 50 - has been identified by local media as refugee Taleb A.
It is being reported that he is an anti-Islam activist who arrived in 2006 from Saudi Arabia, according to Bild.
He has lived in the nearby town of Bernburg - just over 30 minutes from Magdeburg - since fleeing the Middle East.
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Police confirmed that they are not looking for any other suspect at this time.
The car is described having been driven 400m through the busy festive market just after 7pm, having smashed through protective barriers.
In video footage of the suspect's arrest, he is seen with his hands up before he lays down on the ground.
An armed policeman can be seen shouting at him with a gun raised - before vans full of reinforcements come careening down the street.
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One cop jumps over the road barrier as they swarm around the suspect.
Other graphic clips this evening appear to show the dark car careening into the dense market crowd, leaving dozens of people on the ground.
Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Erich Haseloff confirmed two people have died, including a child.
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In a initial report, cops said: "Extensive police operations are currently taking place at the Magdeburg Christmas market.
"The Christmas market in the city center is closed. Further reports will be made."
Police are not yet sure whether the incident was carried out by a lone perpetrator.
The Christmas market posted to Instagram to ask people to stay away.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said reports "suggest something terrible is to come".
He said in a post on X: "My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg.
"My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours."
Matthias Schuppe, a government spokesman in the province of Saxony-Anholt, said it was an “attack” in comments to local media.
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A spokesperson for local police said: “We do not yet know exactly what happened.”
Eight years ago, a truck driven by a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, crashed into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others.
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