Car pushed into crowd at Christmas market in Germany

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A car has been driven into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in eastern German.

German news agency dpa has reported that the vehicle was driven into a group of people at the market in Magdeburg on Friday.

The driver of the car was arrested, the agency said, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

A least one person has been killed and several injured in the incident, according to German public broadcaster MDR.

Video on social media shows a number of people laying on the ground and emergency services in attendance.

An “extensive police operation” is underway and the market was closed, according to local authorities.

Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 inhabitants.

On 19 December 2016 in Berlin, an Islamic extremist attacker drove into a crowd of Christmas market-goers with a truck, leaving 13 people dead and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.

This is a breaking news story, more follows…

Source: independent.co.uk