At least four dead after man rams vehicle through Christmas market in Germany in suspected attack

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 suspect on Friday ploughed into a large crowd of visitors.

German authorities are investigating a Saudi doctor, arrested as the suspected driver of the car, with Der Spiegel magazine reporting he had sympathies with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Over 60 people were injured, some of them seriously, when a vehicle drove through crowds gathered at a market in the central city, local officials said. A young child was among the dead.

Police said they arrested a 50-year-old from Saudi Arabia who has been living in Germany for almost two decades. Police did not name the man and were not immediately available to comment on the reported rise in the death toll.

The man worked as a doctor in a nearby town, local officials said. Police searched his home overnight.

"It is a catastrophe for the city of Magdeburg, for the state and for Germany in general," Reiner Haseloff, premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt said, adding that the death toll could rise given the severity of some of the injuries.

Haseloff described the attacker as a 50-year-old male doctor from Saudi Arabia with permanent residency in Germany, where he had lived for almost two decades.

"As things stand at the moment, we are talking about a lone offender, which means that there is no further danger to the city because we were able to arrest him."

The motive was unclear. The suspect was not known to German authorities as an Islamist, according to local broadcaster MDR.

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 AfD. The magazine did not say where it got the information.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency was not immediately available for comment.

Following the incident, police cleared an area surrounding the vehicle to investigate a possible explosive device, local broadcaster MDR reported. It later cited police as saying that no such device had been found.

A police operation was also under way in the town of Bernburg, south of Magdeburg, where the suspect is believed to have lived, local newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported.

Police were not immediately available to comment on the reports of a suspicious item or the operation in Bernburg.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who sent his thoughts to those affected in a post on social media platform X, is expected to visit the scene on Saturday with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

As news of the attack broke, Elon Musk, the billionaire allied with US President-elect Donald Trump, criticised Scholz and called on him to resign.

A video posted on social media from a position above the market shows a car driving at speed through a crowd walking between two rows of market stalls. People can be seen knocked to the ground and running away. Reuters was able to verify the location, with the trees, outline and design of the buildings matching file and satellite imagery of the area.

Footage from a local broadcaster showed people wrapped in blankets on the ground receiving care in the wake of the attack.

Bild newspaper quoted a witness identified only as Nadine saying she had been walking arm-in-arm with her boyfriend, Marco, when the car came hurtling towards them.

"He was hit and ripped away from my side," Bild cited her as saying, adding that he had been injured on his leg and head and taken to hospital but she did not know where to find him.

"The uncertainty is unbearable," she told Bild.

Late last month, Faeser advised people to be vigilant at Christmas markets, which have been a particular focus of security services as a potential target for extremist attacks.

Eight years ago, Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, rammed a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others.

The attack comes at a time of heightened debate over migration and security in Germany, which is gearing up for a snap election on Feb. 23.

The AfD, currently polling in second place behind the conservative opposition, has led calls for a crackdown on migration to the country.

AfD chancellor candidate Alice Weidel condemned the attack and said on X, "The pictures from #Magdeburg are shocking! My thoughts are with the bereaved and injured. When will this madness come to an end?"