Death toll from German Christmas market car-ramming rises to four, Bild reports

Car-ramming at German Christmas market in Magdeburg leaves 4 dead, dozens injured. Suspect under investigation; motive unclear. Chancellor Scholz to visit the site today.

The death toll from a car-ramming at a German Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg rose to four on Saturday, according to German newspaper Bild, after a Saudi man was arrested on suspicion of ploughing a car into the crowd.

Scores of people were injured in the attack on Friday evening, which came amid fierce debate over security and migration during an election campaign in Europe's largest economy in which the far right is polling strongly.

The Bild report said 41 people were critically injured, 86 were receiving hospital treatment for serious injuries and another 78 sustained minor injuries.

German authorities are investigating a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who has lived in Germany for almost two decades in connection with the car-ramming. 

The motive remained unclear and police have not yet named the suspect. He has been named in German media as Taleb A.

A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the attacker after he posted extremist views on his personal X account that threatened peace and security.

Der Spiegel reported that the suspect had sympathised with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The magazine did not say where it got the information.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Germany's FAZ newspaper said it interviewed the suspect in 2019, describing him as an anti-Islam activist.

"People like me, who have an Islamic background but are no longer believers, are met with neither understanding nor tolerance by Muslims here," he was quoted as saying. "I am history's most aggressive critic of Islam. If you don't believe me, ask the Arabs."

Andrea Reis, who had been at the market on Friday, returned on Saturday with her daughter Julia to lay a candle by the church overlooking the site. She said that had it not been for a matter of moments, they may have been in the car's path.

"I said, 'let's go and get a sausage', but my daughter said 'no let's keep walking around'. If we'd stayed where we were we'd have been in the car's path," she said.

Tears ran down her face as she described the scene. "Children screaming, crying for mama. You can't forget that," she said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to visit Magdeburg later on Saturday.

A leading member of Scholz's Social Democrats in the Bundestag parliament warned against jumping to conclusions and said it appeared the attacker did not have an Islamist motive.

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Magdeburg Germany Christmas market Car ramming