At least one person has been killed and several others have been injured after a car rammed into pedestrians in the southwestern German city of Mannheim, local police said Monday.
The incident occurred shortly after midday local time (6 a.m. ET), said Stefan Wilhelm, a spokesperson for Mannheim police. A suspect has been arrested, he added.
Germany’s federal government issued an “extreme danger” warning in the city and said a large-scale police operation is underway.
Mannheim University Hospital said that three of the injured people it has received are receiving urgent acute care, including a child. Police have not yet said how many people were injured.
Germany has been rocked by a string of deadly car ramming attacks in recent months. Police have not yet said whether Monday’s incident was a deliberate attack.
In December, a vehicle plowed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing six people, including a 9-year-old boy. The suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who had lived in Germany for more than a decade and worked to help Saudis leave his home country. Social media posts showed he was a fervent critic of Islam.
In February, a person drove a Mini Cooper into demonstrators in Munich, killing a mother and her child and injuring more than 30 others. The suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan man.
That attack came on the eve of the Munich Security Conference and just days before the country’s federal election, where concerns over immigration and security helped propel the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to second place.
Monday’s incident comes as Germany celebrates “Rose Monday,” a carnival held before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.
German police were already on high alert ahead of the carnival celebrations, but the incident in Mannheim has prompted some forces to take additional measures. Police in Ulm, a city southeast of Mannheim, said they have “noticeably increased” their presence around carnival events.