BERLIN: One person was killed and almost 80 people were injured after car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg on Friday.

Police said the suspected driver of the car had been arrested.

A video uploaded by Bild newspaper showed people trying to help what appeared to be multiple injured victims at the Christmas market.

“I estimate there are at least 20 ambulances here, a lot of firefighters, and I can see the police helicopter circling in the sky,” a television reporter said during a live broadcast, adding that there were a lot of armed police on site.

According to eyewitnesses, the car drove straight into the crowd at the market, in the direction of the town hall.

“This is a terrible event, especially now in the days before Christmas,” the head of Saxony-Anhalt state government said, adding that he was on his way to Magdeburg.

The bloody carnage recalled a 2016 attack in which a man driving a lorry killed 12 people in a Christmas market in Berlin.

A 13th victim died later having suffered serious injuries in the assault, claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

Cries and screams could be heard as police, medics and the fire service deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.

“We presume it was an attack,” a spokeswoman for the interior ministry of Saxony-Anhalt state said.

News weekly Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said that a black BMW had barrelled through the crowd at high speed just after 7 pm local time (1800 GMT) when the market was filled with revellers.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2024