7 Indians among injured in Germany attack; Delhi says senseless, horrific

“We condemn the horrific and senseless attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. Several precious lives have been lost and many have been injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement Saturday.

“Our Mission is in contact with Indians who are injured, as well as their families, and rendering all possible assistance,” the statement said.

Sources said that of the seven Indian nationals injured, “three were discharged from hospital.”

Reports, quoting police officials, said that a 50-year-old man drove his car into crowds at a Christmas market in Saxony-Anhalt state’s Magdeburg. Among the dead is a nine-year-old.

The suspected attacker, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a Saudi “dissident” who described himself as an ex-Muslim, had boasted on social media that “something big will happen in Germany”. His posts regularly attacked Muslim immigration in Europe. Al-Abdulmohsen was arrested at the scene. Authorities described him as a doctor from Saudi Arabia who came to Germany in 2006 and had been working as a psychiatrist in Bernburg, just south of Magdeburg.

According to a report in Financial Times, Saudi authorities had “warned” Germany about the attacker, a “fierce critic of Islam,” having boasted on social media that “something big will happen in Germany.” The report said it wasn’t clear if police acted upon these warnings.

The attack has come eight years to the day after an Islamic State militant ploughed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12, and injuring 49.

The attack comes amid growing uncertainty in the wake of the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government in November.