German Christmas market assault – newest: Death toll rises to 5 with 200 injured after ‘brutal’ automotive assault

On Saturday, Saxony-Anhalt’s governor Reiner Haseloff and German chancellor Olaf Scholz adressed crowds gathered at the scene of Friday’s Christmas market attack.

Haseloff confirmed that the death toll has increased to five, with more than 200 more injured after a car rammed into the crowd at around 7pm.

He said it was “astonishing” and “unimaginable” that “something like this could happen in Germany,” as he thanked emergency service workers.

Scholz said the government will be providing support for those who need it as he condemned the attack that happened in the “peaceful and joyful” setting od a Christmas market.

He said he was worried about the status of 40 people who are very seriouslt injured as he vowed to use the full strength of the law to enure justice is served.

He called for unity and added: “We should not allow those who wish to sow hate to do so.”

German chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to use the “full strength of the law” as he spoke at the scene of Friday’s attack in Magdeburg.

After arriving at the market to pay tribute to the victims on Saturday morning, he told reporters alongside the state governer that nearly 40 of those injured are “so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them”.

He said: “What an awful crime this is, such brutality.”

The chancellor called on the nation to stand together against hate.

The number of people killed by a car ramming into a German Christmas market has now risen to 5, authorities confirmed.

Saxony-Anhalt’s governor Reiner Haseloff told reporters at the scene of the attack in Magdeburg that the death toll had risen and that 200 people have been injured, many seriously.

Saxony-Anhalt’s governor Reiner Haseloff is now giving a statement next to German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Magdeburg.

He confirmed five people have died and 200 people have been injured.

Andrea Reis, who had been at the market on Friday, returned on Saturday with her daughter Julia to lay a candle by the church overlooking the site. She said that had it not been for a matter of moments, they may have been in the car’s path.

“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 said.

Tears ran down her face as she described the scene. “Children screaming, crying for mama. You can’t forget that,” she said.

The number of those believed to have been injured in Friday’s attack has risen to as many as 200 people.

German broadcaster ARD reported the number on Saturday, hours after it was reported that the death toll has risen to four.

The news outlet said 41 people are very seriously injured, 90 seriously injured and a further 80 are suffering minor injuries.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to give a statement in the next hour.

We will be reporting what he says on this live blog.