One dead and at least 50 injured after car ploughs into Christmas market crowds
A driver has been arrested after a car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market.
The incident happened at a market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg earlier this evening.
Regina-Dolores Stieler-Hinz, deputy mayor of the town, has now confirmed at least one person has died and more than 50 people were injured.
Local news sources are also reporting that there could be an explosive device within the vehicle, a dark-coloured BMW, and that up to 11 people could have been killed, but these claims have not yet been verified.
Regional government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe and city spokesperson Michael Reif said they suspected it was an attack.
Mr Reif said there were ‘numerous injured’ but did not give a precise figure, adding: ‘The pictures are terrible. My information is that a car drove into the Christmas market visitors, but I can’t yet say from what direction and how far.’
‘This is a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas,’ Saxony-Anhalt governor Reiner Haseloff said as he made his way to Magdeburg.
Video recorded at the scene shows chaos amongst the crowds with several people lying on the ground.
Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and is home to about 240,000 people.
The town’s Christmas market is located on the Old Market, directly next to the town hall near the River Elbe. There is also a large shopping centre nearby.
An Islamic extremist plowed through a crowd of Christmas market-goers with a truck in 2016, leaving 13 people dead and injuring dozens more.
The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
German interior minister Nancy Faeser said last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.
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