Death and injuries in Germany as car ploughs into crowd at Christmas market | Germany

At least one person was killed and several others injured on Friday after a car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack.

The number of victims was not immediately clear.

A car apparently drove straight into the crowd at the Christmas market, heading in the direction of the town hall, according to eyewitnesses cited by the broadcaster.

The driver of the car was arrested, German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Many police officers and emergency services were at the scene, and the Christmas market manager had told people to leave the city centre, according to broadcaster MDR.

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

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

On 19 December 2016 in Berlin, an Islamist extremist attacker drove a truck into a crowd of Christmas market-goers, leaving 13 people dead and dozens more injured. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

German interior minister Nancy Faeser had 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.

More details soon…