At least two dead, including child as BMW mows down Christmas revellers in German market; cops nab Saudi doctor behind wheel
The suspect was a 50-year-old medical doctor from Saudi Arabia living in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, said regional premier Reiner Haseloff, speaking at a scene cordoned off and guarded by police commandos. Video footage showed the driver’s arrest as police with their handguns trained shouted “lie down, hands on your back, don’t move!” at the bearded man with glasses who was lying on the ground next to the heavily damaged car.
Cries and screams rang out as around 100 emergency responders deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.The deadly carnage recalled a 2016 jihadist attack in which a Tunisian man driving a lorry killed 12 people in a Christmas market in Berlin, the country’s worst such attack.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote that “the anticipation of a peaceful Christmas was suddenly interrupted” in the attack but he cautioned that “the background to the terrible deed has yet been clarified”.