At least two people have died and 68 others have been injured after a car crashed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, the capital of Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state.
Authorities on Friday night described the incident as a deliberate attack and announced that the driver had been arrested at the scene. An investigation is underway.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was among the many to offer their condolences shortly after the incident. His office said he would visit the site on Saturday.
“The reports from Magdeburg show that something terrible has happened. My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz he wrote on social media platform X.
“We stand on their side and on the side of the people of Magdeburg. I thank the volunteers who saved people in these difficult hours.”
Saxony-Anhalt's interior minister, Tamara Zieschang, identified the suspect as a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who arrived in Germany in 2006. He was previously unknown to security agencies.
Another government official, Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff, told local media that one of the dead was a child and the other an adult. He also said that he could not say whether there will be other people killed as a result of the attack.
“That's a fantasy now. Every human life affected by this attack is a tragedy and one human life is too many,” Haseloff told reporters.
He also said that at the moment the authorities believe that the person in prison is the only person who caused the explosion of the car.
“As things stand, he's only to blame, so as far as we know, there's no more danger to the city,” Haseloff told reporters.
Of the injured, 15 were listed as critical, according to the city's official website. Another 37 people were seriously injured and 16 were slightly injured.
Local media reports indicate that the vehicle involved was seen speeding before plowing into a crowd at around 7pm local time (18:00 GMT).
Christmas markets are a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages in the German-speaking parts of Europe. In the city of Magdeburg, which has about 240,000 inhabitants, the market was established in the town square, with regional food and drink stalls.
“It is a great tragedy. “This is a tragedy for the city of Magdeburg and for the state, and for Germany in general,” Haseloff said.
Al Jazeera reporter Dominic Kane, who went to the suspect's location on Friday, said the Christmas market would have been crowded when the car hit.
“It's the last Friday before Christmas. It's a tradition all over Germany that the Christmas markets are the places where people go, especially on Friday nights,” Kane said.
“Then think about the market situation, where it is. It's not too far from the town… not too far from the Elbe river, in a very beautiful city. So there's been a lot of reasons for people to live in the center of the city at that time.”
Mr Kane added that the alleged use of a rental car would give investigators a way to find out more about what he did to start the attack.
“Obviously, there will be records of when the car was picked up, where it was picked up and what documents were used to start the car. These are all forms of inquiry,” Kane said.
The suspected terrorist attacks on Friday night come eight years after a similar car bomb exploded in the German city of Berlin on December 19, 2016.
In that case, the Tunisian suspect, 24-year-old Anis Amri, deliberately he drove a car in the Christmas market on the main public square, Breitscheidplatz.
12 people were killed in the attack and about 56 were injured. Amri at last killed in a shootout in Milan, after fleeing to Italy.
Raphael Bossong, a senior fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, thinks that the two events may appear to be related, although I am beginning to think.
“Unfortunately, this is a very sad reminder, and I am sure that the perpetrator chose this to remember this,” Bossong told Al Jazeera after hearing the news.
He added that the planned attack on Friday should have political consequences in Germany, which is expected to hold elections in February 2025.
“We are entering the election period, and the German debate is already divided on immigration issues,” Bossong said. “I believe this will only add fuel to the fire, sadly.”
In particular, security arrangements – both in the market and across the country – need to be monitored.
“All the Christmas markets and all these places now have to be closed to traffic, because no car or truck can enter,” Bossong told Al Jazeera. “Perhaps the authorities should explain.”
Already, billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk – well-known on the right – has used the scheme to get Chancellor Scholz to resign.
“Scholz should resign immediately,” he said he wrote in a comment on his social network X. “Incompetent fool.”
Earlier, Musk announced that he would reversing another German right-wing approach (AfD) in the upcoming German elections.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” he said has been sentto show that they are helping.