Magdeburg's Christmas market is a sad sight. This should have been the busiest weekend of the season, but the whole area has been cordoned off and all the stands are shut. Police are the only people walking around the boarded-up mulled wine and gingerbread stalls. On the pavement, red candles flicker, tributes laid for the victims.

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.

Police in Magdeburg, Germany, said Sunday that those who died were four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy.