Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg: Rescue workers in action at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, December 20, 2024.(photo credit: Dörthe Hein/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The driver has since been arrested, according to multiple German media reports. Police said the driver drove “at least 400 meters across the Christmas market” through the crowds.
German reports published that the driver was a man from Saudi Arabia and is approximately 50 years old. The site also claimed the driver had a number of suitcases with him and police were currently looking to see if any contained explosive materials.
Emergency services have set up tents to care for the wounded while 10-20 have reportedly arrived at Magdeburg University Hospital for emergency treatment.
Bild reported the ramming as a “terror attack.” Police are reportedly also searching the market for explosives.
German police secures the cathedral in central Cologne, Germany, December 23, 2023. (credit: THILO SCHMUELGEN/REUTERS)
Eyewitnesses told German media the car drove directly into the crowds. The vehicle was described as a black BMW.
An unknown number of people were wounded, although Bild reported the figure was over 60. Hospitals as far as 80KM away are preparing to receive those wounded in the attack, according to Bild.
Despite Bild’s estimates, the city spokesman Michael Reif told MDR it was still too early to give exact figures. “I estimate there are at least 20 ambulances here, a lot of firefighters, and I can see the police helicopter circling in the sky,” an MDR reporter said during a live broadcast, adding that there were a lot of armed police on site.
MDR SACHSEN-ANHALT reported ambulances were at the scene and police had called on people to leave the city center.
Matthias Schuppe, a government spokesman in the province of Saxony-Anholt, said it was an “attack” in comments to local media.
A spokesperson for local police said: “We do not yet know exactly what happened.”
“This is a terrible event, especially now in the days before Christmas,” head of Saxony-Anhalt state government Reiner Haseloff told MDR, adding that he was on his way to Magdeburg.
Germany’s Christmas markets
Christmas markets have been eyed as potential target sites by terrorists in Germany for some time. Only two weeks ago, German authorities arrested an Iraqi national suspected of targeting a Christmas market.
Last year, Christmas markets in Germany and Austria were put on high alert for fears of a potential attack.
In 2016, a truck rammed into a Christmas market in Berlin killing 12 people and wounding 48.
