Car rams German Christmas market in suspected attack, killing two

A car has plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, killing two people and injuring 50 in what authorities say was a suspected attack.

The driver of the car was arrested, German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt on Friday. Regional government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe and city spokesperson Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate act.

Reif stated there were "numerous injured," though he did not provide an exact number. Emergency services, as reported by AP, estimated the number of injured to be 50.

"The pictures are terrible," he said. "My information is that a car drove into the Christmas market visitors, but I can’t yet say from what direction and how far."

Magdeburg’s University Hospital said it was taking care of 10 to 20 patients but was preparing for more, dpa reported.

The sounds of sirens from first responders clashed with the market's holiday decorations, including ornaments, stars and leafy garland festooning the vendors’ booths.

Footage from the scene of a cordoned-off part of the market showed debris on the ground.

According to the interior minister, German security authorities will investigate the Christmas market incident.

"This is a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas," Saxony-Anhalt governor Reiner Haseloff said.

Haseloff confirmed that the driver was arrested immediately after the incident. "We have apprehended the perpetrator, he is a doctor from Saudi Arabia who works here in Saxony-Anhalt, and has been in Germany since 2006," he told reporters.

Authorities have not disclosed a potential motive but a preliminary investigation indicates there were no other suspects involved in the attack.

The Welt newspaper said a social media profile matching the suspect, Taleb A., indicated he obtained political asylum in Germany.

His social media accounts contained Islamophobic messages, support for the far-right AfD party, with outlandish claims that German authorities were "chasing Saudi asylum seekers to destroy their lives" and "Germany wants to Islamise Europe."

He wrote in June a post about German police using "dirty tactics" against him and other critics of Islam to "destroy their anti-Islam activism."

German authorities have not released details about the perpetrator's identity or commented on the reports while investigations were continuing.

Chancellor OIaf Scholz posted on X: "My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg."

Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 residents.

The suspected attack came eight years after an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. On Dec. 19, 2016, an extremist plowed through a crowded Christmas with a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.