Germany: At least two dead and almost 70 injured after car ploughs into crowd in city of Magdeburg
20 December 2024, 19:06 | Updated: 21 December 2024, 06:37
At least two people - including a young child - have been killed and dozens of others injured after a car was driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany.
Police said the suspected driver - a 50-year-old Saudi doctor - has been arrested following the incident in the eastern city of Magdeburg, while the local government confirmed 68 people have been injured - 15 seriously.
A city spokesman said the initial assessment is that this was a deliberate attack, with all hospitals in the nearby city of Halle preparing for a mass casualty event, according to a security official.
Broadcaster MDR said police blocked off the area as there was a suspicion of explosives in the car of the suspect.
Officials said the suspect is believed to have moved to Germany in 2006 and had been practising medicine in Bernburg, about 25 miles south of Magdeburg.
Authorities believe he acted alone and used a rental car.
Saxony-Anhalt's governor, Reiner Haseloff, said: "As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city.
"Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many."
Meanwhile, the city of Magdeburg was in mourning after the attack, with mayor Simone Borris announcing that cultural institutions like theatres and museums would remain closed in the coming days.
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German newspaper Bild first reported at least 11 people had been killed, but Mr Haseloff later said two people were known to have died, including a young child.
Magdeburg's University Hospital said it was treating 10-20 patients, news agency dpa reported.
City spokesman Michael Reif said he suspects it was a deliberate act, adding there are "numerous injured" and that the "pictures are terrible".
One eyewitness told Bild she was holding her boyfriend's hand when the car hit the crowd.
"He was caught and ripped from my side. It was terrible. Nobody screamed. You couldn't hear the car either," Nadine, 32, said, adding her partner suffered leg and head injuries.
"We don't know which hospital he has been taken to. The uncertainty is unbearable."
They had travelled especially to Magdeburg to visit the market, she said.
Resident Dorin Steffen told dpa she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens, which were so loud "you had to assume that something terrible had happened".
"We are shaking," she added. "Full of sympathy for the relatives, also in the hope that nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances."
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said "the news suggests something bad" and that his thoughts are with "the victims and their families".
Police said on X that "extensive operations" were taking place at the market, which has been closed.
Weihnachtsmarkt Magdeburg has posted on Instagram warning people to leave the market and allow emergency services to do their work.
A market in the city of Erfurt, roughly a two-hour drive away, closed after the incident, though police said there is no specific risk.
The UK Foreign Office said it is "closely monitoring the situation".
Sky News' Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins said initial videos from the scene show what appears to be a car "driving at speed" into a crowd at a Christmas market.
"The police have put out a statement saying there's an extensive police operation that's going on and they haven't officially said yet whether this is terror," she added.
"That of course will be something that a lot of people will be asking. There has been a warning for Christmas markets across Europe to be on high alert for possible terror attacks."
Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Germany's interior minister Nancy Faeser said last month there were no concrete signs of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but added it was wise to be vigilant.
On 19 December 2016, an Islamic extremist drove a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more.
Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has a population of about 240,000.
(c) Sky News 2024: Germany: At least two dead and almost 70 injured after car ploughs into crowd in city of Magdeburg
