The suspect has been identified in local media reports as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, the BBC understands. He is a 50-year-old Saudi-born psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, around 40km (25 miles) south of Magdeburg. He has been remanded in custody on suspicion of five counts of murder, multiple attempted murders and dangerous bodily harm, police say.

A 50-year-old residing in Germany is under investigation for a car-ramming incident in Magdeburg that resulted in five deaths. The suspect, known as Taleb A., lived quietly in Bernburg and worked at a rehabilitation clinic.

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".