At least one person has been killed and dozens of others injured after a car was driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany, local media reports.
News agency dpa said the driver had been arrested following the incident in the eastern city of Magdeburg, while AFP news agency reports 60-80 people have also been injured.
Public broadcaster MDR said at least one person has been killed, quoting local government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe as describing it as an attack.
The state premier Reiner Haseloff, who is on his way to the scene, said it is a “terrible event, especially now in the days before Christmas”, according to MDR.
He added he couldn’t comment on victims or the circumstances of the incident.
Police said on X that “extensive operations” were taking place at the market, which has been closed.
Weihnachtsmarkt Magdeburg has posted on Instagram warning people to leave the market and allow emergency services to do their work.
Emergency services on the scene. Pic: dpa via AP
Sky News’s Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins said initial videos from the scene show what appears to be a car “driving at speed” into a crowd at a Christmas market.
“The police have put out a statement saying there’s an extensive police operation that’s going on and they haven’t officially said yet whether this is terror,” she added.
“That of course will be something that a lot of people will be asking. There has been a warning for Christmas markets across Europe to be on high alert for possible terror attacks.”
Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser said last month there were no concrete signs of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but added it was wise to be vigilant.
On 19 December 2016, an Islamic extremist drove a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more.
Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has a population of about 240,000.
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