Despite the suspect's many statements expressing hostility to Islam, the head of the AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt, Martin Reichardt, said in a statement "the attack in Magdeburg shows that Germany is being drawn into political and religious fanaticism that has its origins in another world".

Live from outside Johannis church in Magdeburg, after four women and a 9-year-old boy were killed and 200 people were injured when a man drove into a Christmas market teeming with the holiday on Friday,