Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff announces that two people, one of whom is a child, have been killed in the attack on the Christmas market.
This is a terrible event, that it happens just a few days before Christmas, he says to the TV channel MDR.
Local media reports that the driver drove a large black car into the Christmas market and then zigzagged through the market visitors. The newspaper Volksstimme writes that the driver was stopped by the police and arrested when he tried to turn the car around and drive back.
The police in Magdeburg report that the arrested person is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia. The police assume that the driver acted alone and report that he managed to drive about 400 meters into the Christmas market.
Blocked off
TV channel MDR reports that the police have blocked off the area around the car. Sources within the police tell MDR that they suspect there are explosives in the car.
Medical personnel and rescue services have set up tents where the injured who are not taken directly to hospital are being cared for. The entire city center of Magdeburg is said to be blocked off.
Germany's Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz writes on X that the event at the Christmas market "confirms one's worst fears" and that his thoughts are with the relatives of the victims. He and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will visit Magdeburg on Saturday, writes Bild.
"Terrible event"
Magdeburg is located in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in former East Germany, about 15 miles southwest of Berlin.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs currently has no information on whether any Swedish citizens are in Magdeburg. Swedes on site are urged to contact their relatives, stay updated on the development of events in the media, and follow local authorities' advice and instructions.
In 2016, a terrorist drove a stolen truck into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin. 13 people were killed and 67 injured.
