A driver rammed a group of people at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday evening, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens others, according to local authorities.
The driver of the dark BMW, identified as a Saudi national, was apprehended shortly after the incident. Authorities are investigating whether an explosive device was found in the vehicle, according to reports.
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Driver plows into Christmas market crowd in Magdeburg, Germany
Authorities have not yet confirmed whether the incident was a deliberate attack. Witnesses described the vehicle speeding directly into the festive crowd, causing panic as people fled.
"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 reporter for broadcaster MDR said during a live broadcast, adding that there were a lot of armed police on site.
Marketgoers tend to injured after ramming attack
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote in a post on social media platform X, "The reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families."
"This is a terrible event, especially now in the days before Christmas," head of Saxony-Anhalt state government Reiner Haseloff told MDR, adding that he was on his way to Magdeburg.
The market’s organizers urged visitors to evacuate. “Avoid the market area, let emergency services do their work, and leave the site in an orderly manner,” read a statement on their Instagram page.
Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 inhabitants.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year but urged residents to remain vigilant.
The crash drew immediate comparisons to a similar attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016. On Dec. 19, a truck driven by Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, crashed into a crowded Christmas market near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the German capital, leaving 12 people dead and injuring dozens more.
The attacker managed to flee the scene and was killed days later in a shootout in Italy. A passenger in the truck, Polish national Łukasz Urban, was found stabbed and shot dead in the truck's cabin. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.