A man rammed a car into a group of shoppers at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday night.

The attack killed five people, including a 9-year-old boy, and injured more than 200 people, many seriously.

A judge ordered the pretrial detention of a 50-year-old man arrested on suspicion of carrying out an attack.

Police believe he acted alone.

Our first call to emergency services was made at 19:02 local time (18:02 GMT).

The caller reported a car plowed into a crowd of people at the downtown Christmas market.

Police said the caller thought it was an accident, but soon discovered it was not.

Police said the driver used a traffic light to close the road, enter a crosswalk and pass through an entrance to the market reserved for emergency vehicles, injuring several people along the way.

Unconfirmed videos on social media showed drivers speeding across pavements between Christmas stalls.

Witnesses described jumping out of the car’s path, running away or hiding.

The driver then returned to the road he came from and was forced to stop in traffic, police said. The police, who were already at the market, arrested the driver here.

Video shows armed police confronting and arresting a man who can be seen lying on the ground next to a stationary vehicle – a black BMW with severe damage to the front bumper and windshield.

Police said the entire incident was over within three minutes.

A 9-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 were confirmed dead in the attack.

More than 200 people have been injured, at least 41 of them seriously.

The death toll was earlier reported as two dead and 68 injured, but the total was revised to higher on Saturday morning.

None of the victims have yet been identified.

The BBC understands that local media reports identified the suspect as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen.

He is a 50-year-old Saudi-born psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

Police said he was remanded in custody on suspicion of five counts of murder, multiple attempted murders and dangerous bodily harm.

The motive behind the attack was unclear, but authorities reported they believed he carried out the attack alone.

Abdelmosen arrived in Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016.

The suspect ran a website aimed at helping other former Muslims flee persecution in their Gulf homes and was interviewed by the BBC in 2019.

German Interior Minister Nancy Feser told reporters it was “clear” the suspect held “Islamophobic” views.

On social media, he is an outspoken critic of Islam and promotes conspiracy theories about what German authorities call a plot to Islamize Europe.

He also expressed sympathy for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party by retweeting the party leader and a far-right activist on social media.

Magdeburg Police Chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said police had previously assessed whether the suspect posed a potential threat, “but that discussion was a year ago.”

Feser told Germany’s Bild newspaper that investigators would look in “detailed detail” at what information authorities had about Abdelmosen in the past and how he came to be investigated.

Germany’s Immigration and Refugee Office said in a social media post that it had received a complaint about the suspect and “took it seriously” but had referred the complainant to other authorities because the office was not an investigating agency.

Authorities received a tip believed to be from Saudi Arabian authorities.

A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC that it sent four official notices, known as “verbal notes”, to German authorities warning them of the “very extreme views” held by Abdul Mohsen .

However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that Saudi Arabia may have been launching a disinformation campaign to discredit those trying to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.

Holger Münch, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), told public broadcaster ZDF that his office had received a notification from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. He said local police took appropriate investigative measures, but did not elaborate on the matter.

He added that the suspect “had various contacts with the authorities, insulted them and even issued threats, but he was not known for violent behavior”.

“The reports coming out of Magdeburg raise the gravest concerns,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on social media platform X.

According to German public broadcaster MDR, Magdeburg City Councilor for Public Order Ronni Krug said that the Christmas market will remain closed and “Christmas in Magdeburg is over.”

That sentiment was echoed on the market’s website, which after the attack featured only a black screen with words of condolence declaring the market was over.

In a statement from X, the Saudi government expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims” and “affirmed its rejection of violence.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked by the brutal attack in Magdeburg” and posted on Friday night’s X that his thoughts were with “the victims, their families and all those affected” influence people”.