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CV NEWS FEED // A suspected terrorist attack occurred Dec. 20 in Magdeburg, a city in eastern Germany, when a doctor drove his car into a crowd at a bustling Christmas market, leading to the deaths of at least two people and injuring more than 65 people, NBC News reported.
The driver, 50, has been arrested, and police are investigating the incident to determine whether it was intentional. Authorities stated, “Extensive police operations are currently taking place at the Magdeburg Christmas market.”
Magdeburg is a city of around 240,000 people in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, about 90 miles west of Berlin.
City spokesperson Michael Reif said that the incident is being treated as a deliberate act, the Telegraph reported.
“The pictures are terrible,” Reif said, according to the Telegraph. “My information is that a car drove into the Christmas market visitors, but I can’t yet say from what direction and how far.”
Reiner Haseloff, the state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, announced that the authorities have arrested the lone attacker, a Saudi Arabian doctor who has resided in Germany since 2006.
“This is a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas,” Haseloff said.
Magdeburg’s University Hospital said that it is currently treating between 10 to 20 patients and is bracing for more, according to DPA International.
“We are currently gearing up,” said a spokesman from the hospital. “Intensive care beds are ready.”
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had previously assured the public that Christmas markets were safe but advised attendees to remain vigilant, according to Fox News.
Deutsche Welle (DW), a German publicly funded broadcaster, reported in November that Faeser told RND media group newspapers that even though “federal security authorities do not currently have any concrete indications of danger,” security and vigilance were crucial because of “the high threat situation at an abstract level.”
The Dec. 20 incident comes eight years after an Islamist attacker drove a truck through a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people, according to DW. A 15-year-old was sentenced in June for planning an attack on a Christmas market in Leverkusen, which is near Cologne.
