A car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday evening.
According to unconfirmed reports, at least 11 people were killed, though so far only one death has been officially confirmed by authorities.
Magdeburg emergency services reported that between 60 to 80 people were injured. Several people were “severely” injured”, a spokesman told AFP.
The driver of the vehicle has been arrested, according to the dpa news agency. The German newspaper Bild reported that police have cordoned off the area in search of explosives.
According to the reports, the driver is a 50-year-old man of Saudi origin. The vehicle he used to carry out the ramming was rented.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz commented on the incident and warned that the death toll is likely to rise.
“The reports from Magdeburg suggest something terrible is to come. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours,” he said in a statement.
Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 inhabitants.
While the background to the incident is not clear at the moment, Germany has been on high alert for possible Islamist attacks for several years and especially since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 of last year.
The country's domestic intelligence chief warned that the risk of such assaults is "real and higher than it has been for a long time".
In late October of 2023, police in the western German city of Essen arrested a man who plotted to attack a pro-Israel demonstration.
In December of that year, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in western Germany on suspicion of planning a possible attack on a Christmas market.
Weeks later, German police arrested three people over an alleged attack plot targeting the cathedral in Cologne on New Year's Eve.
Earlier this month, German authorities arrested three suspected Islamist extremists accused of planning to attack Christmas markets in Frankfurt or Mannheim.
In December of 2016, Tunisian terrorist Anis Amri killed 12 people and injured dozens more when he drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)