KUWAIT CITY, Dec 21: The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry on Saturday strongly denounced the car-ramming incident at a market in the German central city of Magdeburg, which claimed multiple casualties. In a press release, the ministry said that Kuwait reaffirms its rejection of all forms of violence, and calls on the international community to stand united against violence and terrorism and to bring culprits to accountability and wipe out its sources. It added that the State of Kuwait backs the German government and offers condolence to the government and people of Germany and the victims’ families while wishing a swift recovery for the injured. Saudi Arabia on Saturday condemned the ramming attack in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, which left several people killed or injured. In a press release, the Saudi Foreign Ministry restated the kingdom’s denunciation of violence, while voicing sympathy with and sincere condolence to the families of the victims and wishing a quick recovery for those injured in the incident. A car rammed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German central city of Magdeburg on Friday evening, killing at least five people, including a small child, and wounding at least 200 others.

Germans mourn Christmas market attack
Germans on Saturday mourned both the victims and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor intentionally drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people, including a small child, and wounding at least 200 others. Authorities arrested a 50-year-old man at the site of the attack in Magdeburg on Friday evening and took him into custody for questioning. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg. officials said. The state governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters that the death toll rose to five from a previous figure of two and that more than 200 people in total were injured. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that nearly 40 of them “are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”

Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed a previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God’s mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims. There were still no answers Saturday as to what motivated the man to drive his black BMW into a crowd in the eastern German city. Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who left the faith. He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he said was the “Islamism of Europe.”

Some described him as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Haseloff said Friday that authorities believed the man acted alone. The violence shocked Germany and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its markets open but has increased its police presence at them. Germany has suffered a string of extremist attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August.