Car-ramming attack on a German Christmas market: several dead and 80 injured, suspect arrested

A car drove into the crowd at a German Christmas market in Magdeburg. The city spokesperson speaks of an “attack”.

A car crashed into a group of people at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, northern Germany, on Friday. Between “60 and 80 people” were injured when a car crashed into a Christmas market on Friday in the northern German city of Magdeburg, a spokesperson for the local emergency services told AFP.

According to these services, several of the injured were “seriously” following this act involving “a car”. According to Bild, there were 11 dead and 80 injured.

The incident is “likely an attack” according to authorities in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, state government spokesman Matthias Schuppe said. A city spokesman, Michael Reif, also said it was an “attack on the Christmas market.”

The driver of the vehicle was also arrested, according to the German press agency DPA. “The information coming from Magdeburg suggests the worst. My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. We stand with them and with the people of Magdeburg. I thank the rescue teams involved in these hours of anguish“, wrote German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the social network X.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently called on the population to be vigilant at Christmas markets, without mentioning any specific threats. Christmas markets are an “ideologically appropriate target for people motivated by Islamism”, intelligence services recently warned.

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