Pallade Veneta - 'Torn from my side': horror of German Christmas market attack

Families were crowded at the market set up around a large Christmas tree in the centre of Magdeburg when a BMW barrelled towards them around 7 pm (1800 GMT).

"We didn't hear the car," a 32-year-old woman named Nadine told Bild daily, saying she had come from western Germany to visit the famed market in the old town square.

She said she was holding her 39-year-old boyfriend Marco in her arms when "he was torn from my side" by the SUV that careened through the crowd for 400 meters.

"It was terrible," she said.

The screams of the wounded echoed through the panicked crowd where the car had left a trail of bloodied casualties and debris.

Speaking later, as more than 100 emergency responders had arrived at the chaotic scene, Nadine said in despair that she didn't know what hospital her partner had been taken to.

"The uncertainty is unbearable," she said, as authorities reported at least two people had died, including a child, and more than 60 were injured.

Police said they had arrested a suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor.

No extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, but supporters of the Islamic State group celebrated online with messages such as "Merry Christmas, unbeliever", reported the SITE Intelligence Group.

The local Volkstimme newspaper said reports from the scene indicated the attacker "drove in a zig-zag motion across the market -- clearly in an attempt to hit as many people as possible".

- 'Sick world' -

One bystander told Welt TV that when it was all over, "everyone was lying on the ground -- children, men, injured, it's unimaginable".

"It's terrible, next to me the whole time was a dead body," another eyewitness told Welt.

"I thought I was just going to a Christmas market and then something like this happens. The world is sick."

Germany is famous for its enchanting Christmas markets, and Magdeburg prides itself on stalls selling regional handicrafts, marzipan and dozens of types of mulled wine.

Magdeburg has been illuminated by sparkling Christmas decorations and over a million LED lights, but after the attack flashing blue police lights illuminated the scene as sirens wailed.

Footage shot by those present and circulated by local media showed people rushing to help and comfort those lying on the ground, between the festive stalls.

In TV footage from the scene, dozens of emergency services personnel could be seen attending to the wounded, some shielded by white plastic tents, while loudspeaker announcements urged people to go home.

Police commandos with assault rifles secured the scene in Magdeburg, a city of around 240,000 in what was part of communist East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell.

As news spread and condolences came in from politicians, the fans of the city's football club FC Magdeburg fell silent at their away fixture against Fortuna Duesseldorf.

Later on Friday evening the first condolence flowers had already been left at the scene.

Fighting back tears, Magdeburg's mayor Simone Borris announced a memorial service would be held Saturday in the city's main cathedral.

One woman summed up the stunned mood when she told Die Welt daily: "I don't know in what world we're living in, where someone would use such a peaceful event to spread terror."

F.M.Ferrentino--PV