BERLIN >> A driver plowed a vehicle into a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg in central Germany today, killing at least two people — an adult and a small child — and injuring dozens of others, the state governor said.

The driver, identified as a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen, was arrested, authorities said. He first came to Germany in 2006 and worked as a doctor in a small town 25 miles to the south of Magdeburg, officials said.

More than 65 people were injured, 14 of them severely, said Michael Reif, the spokesperson for the city of Magdeburg. Reif and a regional government spokesperson, Matthias Schuppe, both said they suspected the episode had been an attack, according to the German public broadcaster.

Authorities were working to determine a motive, said Reiner Haseloff, the governor of Saxony-Anhalt state, where Magdeburg is the capital.

Over 1,000 temporary Christmas markets pop up every year in Germany, and they have been the target of terrorists in the past. In 2016, an extremist rammed a truck into a crowd in Berlin, killing 13. Since then, police have secured many Christmas markets with temporary barriers.

It remains unclear how the driver was able to circumvent the barriers that were protecting the market in Magdeburg.

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.

The city of Magdeburg, population 240,000, used to be part of communist East Germany.

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. Video of the aftermath shows people helping the wounded as cries are heard.

“The reports from Magdeburg are alarming,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a social media post. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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