Germany says Christmas market attack toll rises to 5 dead, over 200 injured
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) talks to rescuers during a visit to the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on 21 December, 2024, resulting in several deaths and dozens of injured. German media reports that the death toll has risen to four over night and up to 200 injured in the attack on 20 December.
John MacDougall / AFP
A car-ramming attack on a German Christmas market killed five people and wounded more than 200, Saxony-Anhalt state premier Reiner Haseloff said on Saturday, updating the toll.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was with him to pay respects in the eastern city of Magdeburg, voiced concern for some 40 critically injured people and condemned the "terrible catastrophe".
He pledged that Germany would respond "with the full force of the law" over "the terrible attack that injured and killed so many people" close to the anniversary of a deadly 2016 jihadist attack on a Berlin Christmas market.
Scholz also made a call for national unity at a time when Germany has been rocked by a heated debate on immigration and security as it heads towards elections in February.
The chancellor said it was important "that we stay together as a country, that we stick together, that we link arms, that it is not hatred that determines our coexistence but the fact that we are a community that seeks a common future."
He said he was grateful for expressions of "solidarity ... from many, many countries around the world" and said "it is good to hear that we as Germans are not alone in the face of this terrible catastrophe".