The German Christmas Market Drive Attack
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Several killed and scores injured in Germany as car ploughs into crowd at Christmas market
Scores of people have been injured and several killed on Friday after a car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack.
The number of victims was not immediately clear, but German media citing emergency services in the region said between 60 and 80 people might have been injured.
A dark BMW apparently drove straight into the crowd at the Christmas market, heading in the direction of the town hall, according to eyewitnesses cited by the broadcaster.
The driver of the car was arrested immediately, German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. He was identified as a Saudi citizen who rented the car shortly before the attack, according to reports citing a security source.
Many police officers and emergency services were at the scene, and the Christmas market manager had told people to leave the city centre, according to broadcaster MDR.
Emergency workers were seen treating victims on the ground at the market, surrounded by blood. Witnesses reported hearing cries and screams. The operator of a food stall on the market described the scenes as “reminiscent of a war”.
“This is a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas,” Saxony-Anhalt’s leader Reiner Haseloff who was on his way to Magdeburg said.
Was the car driving itself?
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“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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DON’T let them eat cake.
- RFK Jr -
@Mik said in The German Christmas Market Drive Attack:
@89th said in The German Christmas Market Drive Attack:
Very sad of course, unfortunately any types of these events have physical barriers these days now…
Apparently not. We don't have them here.
True. I should clarify in Virginia many events had some major shift barriers. I got used to trying to find the inconspicuous ones. Not so much here.
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We used to put them at the entrances to our data centers.
Hit the panic button and they jumped out of the ground, they deploy in milliseconds.
Yes, of course one deployed by accident one time, picked the car right up almost cut it in half.We used to dig tank traps around the building too. Customers loved that kind of high security for their data.
Of course this was a few decades ago, I'm sure it is better now.
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Apparently the guy is a radical anti-Islamist.
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. Police searched his home overnight.
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."
