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At least five people, including a 9-year-old boy, were killed in the attack in Magdeburg, in the east of the country. The authorities are still there for a reason.
By Christopher F. Schuetze and Melissa Eddy
Christopher F. Schuetze reported from the closed market in central Magdeburg, Germany, where the attack took place. Melissa Eddy reported from Berlin.
It took just three minutes for an attacker to kill five other people and injure many others when he crashed into a pickup truck. at a busy Christmas market on Friday night, surprising Germany and breaking the peace of its Christmas season.
By about 7 p.m. on Friday, the market, in the eastern city of Magdeburg, was packed with families and friends who had gathered under the glow of twinkling lights to celebrate the last workday before the holiday week.
Instead, the weekend began with horror. The attacker, described by the government as a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who has lived in Germany for nearly two decades, slowly maneuvered a rental car through a breach in safety barriers designed for emergency vehicles and then headed into the city center. Celebration in the Old Market Square.
He accelerated, trying to hurt as many people as possible, the police said.
After maiming hundreds, he aimed to escape through a gap on the other end of the square, but was stopped by traffic. Police officers swiftly surrounded the vehicle, forcing the driver to the ground as they apprehended him.
Among the five affected were a 9-year-old boy and four adults. More than 200 more people were injured, bringing the total to 41 with injuries so serious that the government warned the death toll could rise in the coming days. There were so many injured that some had to be airlifted to hospitals in other states.
Magdeburg’s local government, speaking at a news conference at City Hall on Saturday, called the attacker only as Taleb A. , in accordance with German data protection law, and said his motive is being investigated.
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