News agency dpa said the driver has been arrested following the incident in the eastern city of Magdeburg, while public broadcaster MDR reports almost 70 people have been injured – 15 seriously.
A city spokesman said the initial assessment is that this was an attack, with all hospitals in the nearby city of Halle preparing for a mass casualty event, according to a security official.
MDR said police have blocked off the area as there is a suspicion of explosives in the car of the suspect, who the state’s premier Reiner Haseloff said is a doctor from Saudi Arabia.
Germany latest as car shown ‘driving at speed’
Authorities believe he acted alone and used a rental car, he added, and German media described him as 50 years old and previously unknown to security services.
German newspaper Bild reported at least 11 people had been killed, but Mr Haseloff later said two people are known to have died, including a young child.
Magdeburg’s University Hospital said it is treating 10-20 patients and preparing for more, dpa reports.
City spokesman Michael Reif said he suspects it was a deliberate act, adding there are “numerous injured” and that the “pictures are terrible”.
Germany‘s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said “the news suggests something bad” and that his thoughts are with “the victims and their families”.
Police said on X that “extensive operations” were taking place at the market, which has been closed.
Weihnachtsmarkt Magdeburg has posted on Instagram warning people to leave the market and allow emergency services to do their work.
Sky News’s Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins said initial videos from the scene show what appears to be a car “driving at speed” into a crowd at a Christmas market.
“The police have put out a statement saying there’s an extensive police operation that’s going on and they haven’t officially said yet whether this is terror,” she added.
“That of course will be something that a lot of people will be asking. There has been a warning for Christmas markets across Europe to be on high alert for possible terror attacks.”
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What we know so far about attack
Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser said last month there were no concrete signs of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but added it was wise to be vigilant.
On 19 December 2016, an Islamic extremist drove a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more.
Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has a population of about 240,000.
