At least two people were killed and 68 others injured after a car plowed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in Germany

A car plowed into a crowded outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, killing at least two people and wounding 68 others in what authorities suspect was an attack.

The German News Agency (DPA), citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, reported that the driver of the car had been arrested.

Saxony-Anhalt Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang told reporters that the suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who first came to Germany in 2006.

At least two people were killed and 68 others were injured, including 15 very seriously injured, according to government officials and the city government’s website. She added that 37 people were moderately injured and 16 were slightly injured.

Regional government spokesman Matthias Schube and city spokesman Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate act.

“The pictures are terrible,” Reeve said. He added: “My information is that a car ran over visitors to the Christmas market, but I cannot yet determine the direction or distance.”

The University Hospital in Magdeburg said it was caring for between 10 and 20 patients but was preparing to receive more.

The sounds of sirens from first responders collided with the market’s holiday decorations, including tinsel, stars and paper garlands adorning vendors’ booths.

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

The car entered the market at around 7pm local time, when it was crowded with shoppers looking forward to the weekend.

“This is a terrible event, especially now in the days before Christmas,” said Saxony-Anhalt Governor Rainer Haselof.

Haselov told the German news agency that he was on his way to Magdeburg but could not immediately provide any information about the victims or the cause of the accident.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand with them and with the people of Magdeburg,” Chancellor OIaf Scholz posted on X.

Magdeburg, located west of Berlin, is the capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and has a population of about 240,000.

The suspected attack comes eight years after the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. On December 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist drove a truck into crowded Christmas celebrations, killing 13 people and wounding dozens. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world.

In Berlin alone, more than 100 markets opened late last month, bringing smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and sausages to the capital. Other markets abound throughout the country.

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