The authorities said they were struggling to understand the motives for the attack with a car in the eastern city of Magdeburg, in which a 9-year-old boy was among the five victims.

The suspect in Magdeburg's Christmas market car-ramming attack appeared in front of a judge on Saturday and was remanded in custody.

Officials say four women and a 9-year-old boy were killed when a Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday.