A driver plowed into a crowded Christmas market in Germany, killing at least one person

According to German news agency DPA, a car plowed into a holiday market in Magdeburg, Germany on Friday, December 20, in what officials described as a terrorist attack.

“Extensive police operations are currently taking place at the Magdeburg Christmas market,” said the Magdeburg Saxony-Anhalt police department in a statement to X.

However, the number of victims was unclear The Guardian reported that at least one person had been killed. A video posted on social media showed several people lying on the ground and emergency services at the scene, the BBC reported.

According to AP and The GuardianCiting the German Press Agency, the driver of the car was arrested.

“This is a terrible event, especially now in the run-up to Christmas,” said Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff, as the media reported. The media also noted that German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in early December that there were no specific threats to holiday market visitors but encouraged shoppers to remain vigilant.

Magdeburg is a city in central Germany, west of Berlin, with around 200,000 inhabitants.

In 2016, 12 people were killed and nearly 50 injured when a truck drove into a holiday market in central Berlin. The attack sparked a multi-day manhunt for suspect Anis Amri that galvanized the world and ended in a fatal police shootout in Milan, Italy.