A driver plowed a vehicle into a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg in central Germany on Friday evening, killing at least two people — an adult and a small child — and injuring dozens of others, in what officials indicated was a targeted attack.
The driver, identified as a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen, was arrested, the authorities said. He first came to Germany in 2006 and worked as a doctor in a small town 25 miles south of Magdeburg, officials said.
More than 65 people were injured, 14 of them severely, said Michael Reif, the spokesman for Magdeburg. The authorities say they believe it was a deliberate attack. They are working to determine a motive, said Reiner Haseloff, the governor of Saxony-Anhalt state, where Magdeburg is the capital.
“Every human life lost in this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many,” a visibly shaken Mr. Haseloff told reporters on Friday night.
Nancy Faeser, who as Germany’s interior minister is responsible for public safety, said in a statement: “The shocking act in Magdeburg a few days before Christmas hits us in the heart. We continue to fear for the lives of the seriously injured and mourn the people who were torn from life by this terrible act.”
Before leaving his post in November, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, Thomas Haldenwang, warned that the country’s threat level was higher because of the war in Middle East. “The danger is real and more acute than it has been in a long time,” he said at the time.
More than 1,000 temporary Christmas markets pop up every year in Germany, and they have been the target of terrorists in the past. Last month, the police in Germany arrested two teenagers suspected of exchanging plans about attacking a Christmas market, but those alleged plans appear to have nothing to do with the attack on Friday.
In 2016, an extremist rammed a truck into a crowd in Berlin, killing 13. Since then, the police have secured many Christmas markets with temporary barriers. It remains unclear how the driver in Magdeburg was able to circumvent the barriers that were protecting the market. The car drove some 1,200 feet before it stopped, officials said.
The authorities said the driver had rented a car before plowing it into the market on the last Friday before Christmas, when it was especially crowded with visitors. Many police officers were at the site. The area around the market was closed after the episode, a police spokeswoman said.
The attack in Germany inspired additional security measures around Christmas markets thousands of miles away, in New York City. The New York Police Department said in a statement on Friday: “The N.Y.P.D. has been closely monitoring recent events in Germany and coordinating with federal and international partners. While we have not identified any specific/credible threats to New York City at this time, resources have been deployed to various Christmas markets and other locations throughout the city out of an abundance of caution.”
The city of Magdeburg, population 240,000, used to be part of Communist East Germany. The year’s Christmas market is in the old market square, just in front of City Hall. Surveillance footage circulating on social media and verified by The New York Times on Friday shows a car plowing into a large crowd at the Christmas market. The car then turns right onto another crowded street. Video of the aftermath shows people helping the wounded as cries are heard. “The reports from Magdeburg are alarming,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in social media post. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
