A driver plowed into a group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, German news agency DPA reported.
Officials said they suspected it was an attack and that people were injured, but it was not immediately clear how many people were hurt.
The driver of the car was arrested, the agency said, citing unnamed government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Regional government spokesman Matthias Schoppe and city spokesman Michael Reif said they suspected it was an attack.
The ref said there were “several injuries” but did not give exact figures.
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“The pictures are horrible,” he said. “My information is that a car drove into Christmas market visitors, but I can't say yet from which direction and how far.”
Footage from the scene surrounding a section of the market shows debris on the ground.
“This is a terrible event, especially in the days before Christmas,” said Saxony-Anhalt governor Rainer Hesloff. Hasilov told dpa that he was on his way to Magdeburg but could not immediately provide any information about the victims or what was behind the incident.
Magdeburg, west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 inhabitants.
The suspected attack comes a day after the eight-year anniversary of the Berlin Christmas market attack. On December 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist attacker plowed a truck into a crowd of Christmas market-goers, killing 13 people and injuring dozens. The attacker was killed in a shootout in Italy a few days later.
German Interior Minister Nancy Fesser said late last month that there were no concrete signs of a threat to Christmas markets this year, but it was wise to remain vigilant.
By Taboola
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