A driver rammed his car into a group or people at a busy outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring at least 60 others in what authorities suspect was an attack.

The driver was arrested shortly after the car plowed into the market around 7 p.m., when it was bustling with holiday shoppers looking forward to the weekend. The suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who first came to Germany in 2006, Tamara Zieschang, the interior minister of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, said at a press conference.

“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so as far as we know there is no further danger to the city,” Saxony-Anhalt Governor Reiner Haseloff told reporters.

Fifteen of those injured were very seriously injured, according to government officials and the city government website.

Haseloff said the two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, but he could not rule out more deaths.

“But that’s speculation now. Every human life that fell victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many,” he said.

The alleged attack in Magdeburg, a city of about 240,000 people west of Berlin, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt, came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed a few days later in a shootout in Italy.

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Germany invites citizens to visit Christmas markets despite increased security measures

Christmas fairs are a big part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition that has been cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world. In Berlin alone, more than 100 markets opened late last month, bringing the smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital. Other markets abound across the country.

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

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Migration has been a major source of tension in German politics since large numbers of refugees and other migrants arrived in 2015. The government has been under pressure to reduce illegal migration and has taken measures including the introduction of border checks.

Hours after the alleged attack on Friday, the sound of sirens clashed with the market’s festive decorations, stars and leaf wreaths.

Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told the German news agency dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard sirens. The cacophony was so loud you had to assume something terrible had happened.

She called the attack a “dark day” for the city.

“We’re shaking,” Steffen said. “Full of sympathy with the relatives, also in the hope that nothing happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.”

Haseloff called it a disaster for the city, the state and the country.

“It’s really one of the worst things imaginable, especially with what the Christmas market is supposed to bring,” the governor said.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on X: “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand with them and with the citizens of Magdeburg.”

Magdeburg Mayor Simone Borris, who was on the verge of tears, said officials planned to organize a memorial at the city’s cathedral on Saturday.

The attack reverberated beyond Magdeburg. After Friday night’s soccer match between Bayern Munich and Leipzig, Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen asked fans at the club’s stadium to observe a minute’s silence.

This is a developing story. Check again for updates.

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