The German Christmas market was closed

A man accused of killing four women and a nine-year-old boy by running over them with a car at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg has been remanded in custody.

A 50-year-old man was brought before the Magdeburg District Court on Saturday night after an incident on Friday in which a black BMW drove through a crowded market, injuring more than 200 people.

Magdeburg police said the investigation is ongoing and officers are appealing for witnesses to come forward with photos or videos of the incident.

Local media identified the suspect as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi national who arrived in Germany in 2006 and worked as a doctor.

Magdeburg police confirmed on Sunday morning that four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 were also killed in the incident.

“The judge ordered custody in the form of five murders, multiple attempted murders and multiple grievous bodily harm,” the report said.

City officials said about 100 police, paramedics and firefighters, as well as 50 rescue workers, rushed to the scene shortly after 7:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. GMT) on Friday.

Witnesses told how they had to jump out of the way of the car during the attack.

In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, a woman named Nadine said that she was at a Christmas market with her boyfriend Marco when a car sped towards her.

“He got hit and he pulled away from me,” the 32-year-old told the newspaper. – It was terrible.

Lars Frommüller, a reporter for German public broadcaster MDR, told BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight program that he saw “blood on the floor” and “many doctors trying to warm people up and help them with their injuries”.

On Saturday evening, the Magdeburg Cathedral held a memorial service for the victims of the terrorist attack

The service was attended by the families of the victims, emergency workers and representatives of the federal government, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

During a visit to the market earlier on Saturday, Scholz described the attack as a “horrible tragedy” because “so many people were injured and killed with such brutality” in what should be a “joyful” place.

He told reporters that he was deeply concerned about those who were seriously injured and that “all resources” would be devoted to investigating the suspect in the attack.

Earlier, Saxony-Anhalt Prime Minister Rainer Haselow said a preliminary investigation indicated the alleged attacker acted alone.

Prosecutor Horst Walter Knoppens said on Saturday that the investigation was ongoing, but suggested that one possible motive for the attack “could have been dissatisfaction with the way refugees from Saudi Arabia are treated in Germany”.

Al-Abdulmohsen is believed to have entered the market through an entry point designated for emergency vehicles, police said.

The suspect is a psychiatrist who lived in Bernburg, about 40 km (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

Originally from Saudi Arabia, al-Abdulmohsen arrived in Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016.

He ran a website that aimed to help other ex-Muslims escape persecution at home in the Persian Gulf.

The suspected attacker has no known links to Islamist extremism. His social media and posts appear to indicate that he has been critical of Islam.

A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC it had sent four official messages, known as “Notes Verbales”, to German authorities warning them of what they said were al-Abdulmohsen’s “very extreme views”.

The source, who asked not to be named, said the reports were ignored.

However, another senior counter-terrorism expert said the Saudis may be mounting a disinformation campaign to discredit the man who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.

Additional reporting by Frank Gardner.