german market german market
Empty chairs and abandoned blankets are scattered Saturday at a Christmas market where a car crashed into a crowd, killing at least 5 and injuring 200 on Friday evening. JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

The death toll in an attack on a Christmas market in Germany rose Saturday to at least 5 killed and more than 200 injured as authorities interviewed a Saudi doctor who they say deliberately plowed into the holiday shoppers, according to reports.

The 50-year-old man with a history of making anti-Islamic remarks was arrested at the scene of the carnage in Magdeburg on Friday evening.

Authorities said he has lived in Germany since 2006 and practices medicine in Bernburg, the Associated Press reported.

"What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday as he laid a single white rose at a church in honor of the victims, Reuters reported.

"We have now learned that over 200 people have been injured," he continued. "Almost 40 are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them."

Scores of mourners gathered Saturday at a church near the market, placing flowers and lighting candles in memory of the victims, the AP reported.

Several people cried, and a church choir from Berlin sang Amazing Grace.

Police were still trying to determine why the suspect, who was identified in German media as Talib A., drove his BMW into the crowd but uncovered his tweets and retweets with anti-Islam themes.

Many tweets criticized the religion and congratulated Muslims who left the faith, expressed support for far-right parties, including the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) and criticized Germany authorities for failing to curb immigration from Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported.

He also appeared in several interviews with German media in 2019 where he talked about his activist work helping Saudi Arabians and ex-Muslims flee to Europe.

"There is no good Islam," he told one outlet, Reuters reported.

At the scene, Andrea Reis returned to the market on Saturday with her daughter Julia to lay a candle at the church.

She told Reuters that a last-minute decision may have saved them from becoming one of the victims Friday evening.

"I said, 'let's go and get a sausage', but my daughter said 'no let's keep walking around.' If we'd stayed where we were we'd have been in the car's path," she told the wire service.

Recalling the scene with tears in her eyes, she said: "Children screaming, crying for mama. You can't forget that."

Originally published by Latin Times

Germany