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A car ran over a group of people at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday evening, causing several casualties in what local officials said they suspected was an intentional attack.
German broadcaster MDR said that at least one person was killed and several others were injured in the accident that occurred in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Eyewitnesses told the broadcaster that the car drove straight into a crowd of people.
Police arrested a person in connection with the incident, according to the German News Agency.
A spokesman for the Saxony-Anhalt regional government told the agency that it was “likely an attack.”
State Prime Minister Rainer Haselof said: “This is a terrible event, especially now in the days before Christmas.”
This incident comes almost eight years after 12 people were killed and 49 others injured in 2016, when a 24-year-old Tunisian man whose asylum application was rejected stormed a Christmas market in Berlin. The thirteenth victim of the attack, for which the terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility, died in 2021.
German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Weisser recently called for caution when visiting Christmas markets. Speaking at the end of November, she said there was no concrete evidence of an immediate threat, but added: “Given the high level of threat in theory, we still have reason to be very vigilant and act coherently for our security.” “.
The incident comes at a time when Germany is preparing Early elections in Februarywhere immigration and law and order are set to feature strongly. The far-right Alternative for Germany party currently ranks second in opinion polls.
The party took a historic first place in the regional elections held in the state of Thuringia earlier this year, and came in second place in two other states in eastern Germany. The voting process took place shortly after A August terrorist attack In the town of Solingen, when a Syrian citizen suspected of being an ISIS member stabbed three people and injured eight others.
