Blitz Bureau
Aman suspected of driving a car into a German Christmas market in an attack that killed at least five people and injured scores faces charges of murder and attempted murder, police said on December 22, after the man was remanded in custody.
Police in the central city of Magdeburg where the attack happened on December 20 also reported scuffles at a far-right demonstration attended by around 2,100 people on December 21 night, while other residents took part in sombre remembrance events.
The suspect is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany for almost two decades. A magistrate ordered the man, identified in German media as Taleb A., into pretrial custody after prosecutors pressed charges of murder on five counts, multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, according to a police statement.
It identified the dead as a nineyear-old boy and four adult women, aged 52, 45, 75 and 67.
German authorities have not named the suspect, who has permanent resident status in Germany, and media reports do not give his full name in keeping with local privacy laws. The motive in attack remains unclear. Investigators are probing the suspect’s criticism of German authorities’ treatment of Saudi refugees, among other things. Meanwhile, India has strongly condemned the attack. In an official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) expressed deep sorrow over the incident, describing it as “horrific and senseless.”
