Two people died, dozens were injured in Magdeburg

Two people were killed, including a child, and dozens were injured after a car plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, officials said.

In a statement, authorities said 68 people were injured, 15 of them seriously.

Reiner Haseloff, the premier of Saxony-Anhalt state, told reporters at the scene that the suspect – who was arrested – was a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen who came to Germany in 2006 and worked as a doctor.

He said the preliminary investigation showed the attack was believed to have acted as a lone wolf and he could not rule out further deaths given the number of injuries.

Footage from the scene showed multiple emergency service vehicles attending while people lay on the ground.

Unverified video on social media purports to show a car driving into a crowd at the market.

A spokesman for the city of Magdeburg said all hospitals in the area were preparing for a “mass casualty event,” according to Reuters news agency.

City officials said about 100 firefighters and 50 rescue workers were on the scene.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said reports from Magdeburg “make us fear the worst”.

He added: “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand with them and with all Magdeburg residents. I would like to thank all the emergency services in these difficult times.”

Haseloff said Scholz will visit the city on Saturday.

At around 7:20 p.m. local time (18:20 GMT), the organizers of the Christmas market announced that it was closed at the request “for sympathy.”

A short time later, they urged people to stay away from the market. “Please let the emergency services do their job and leave the market in an orderly manner,” they wrote on social media.

In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Nadine described being at the Christmas market with her boyfriend Marco when a car came towards them at speed.

“He was beaten and pulled away from me,” the 32-year-old woman told the newspaper, adding that she had not yet found Marco. “The uncertainty is unbearable.”

Meanwhile, Lars Frohmüller, a reporter for German public broadcaster MDR, told BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight that he saw “blood on the floor” as well as “many doctors trying to keep people warm and help them treat their wounds.”

When the incident happened, the Magdeburg football team was playing against Fortuna Dusseldorf.

After the match ended, the team’s players lined up in front of their supporters. A statement from the club said their “thoughts are with those affected by the terrible events and the Magdeburg Christmas market”.

Meanwhile, a minute of silence was held at the end of the match between Bayern and RB Leipzig in Munich.

Friday’s incident is not the first time people at a Christmas market have been attacked in Germany.

In 2016, Anis Amri, a Tunisian man who was denied asylum in Germany and was affiliated with the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, truck driver drove into a crowd gathered at a church market in Berlinkilling 12 people and injuring 49 others.

Two years later, a gunman opened fire at a Christmas market in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, killing five people and injuring 11 others. The gunman was shot dead by police two days later.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country “shares the pain of the German people and expresses its full solidarity” after the incident in Magdeburg.