SERIES OF ATTACKS
The deadly carnage recalled a 2016 attack in which a Tunisian man driving a lorry killed 12 people in a Christmas market in Berlin, the country’s worst such attack.
A 13th victim died later having suffered serious injuries in the assault, claimed by the Islamic State group.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X that “the reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears”.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”
Scholz was expected to travel to the city on Saturday, said the state premier.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has recently called on people to be vigilant at Christmas markets, although she said that authorities had not received any specific threats.
Domestic security service the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had warned it considers Christmas markets to be an “ideologically suitable target for Islamist-motivated people”.
Germany has in recent times seen a series of suspected extremist knife attacks.
Three people were killed and eight wounded in a stabbing spree at a street festival in the western city of Solingen in August.
Police arrested a Syrian suspect over the attack that was claimed by Islamic State.
In June, a policeman was killed in a knife attack in Mannheim, with an Afghan national held as the main suspect.
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”.
The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, which has focused on extremist attacks in its campaign against immigrants, wrote on social media platform X: “When will this madness stop?”
The Saudi government expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims” in a statement on X and “affirmed its rejection of violence”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “profoundly shocked” by the attack and that he “shares the pain of the German people”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also condemned the “brutal attack on the defenceless crowd” and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez voiced his sorrow at the “terrible attack”.
