A car ploughed into a crowd at a German Christmas market on Friday, killing at least two people, including a small child, and leaving almost 70 wounded in a lone wolf terror attack.

The dark-coloured BMW crashed through barriers protecting the market in Magdeburg and drove straight into shoppers at 7.04pm local time.

Video purportedly taken by a nearby camera showed a car mowing down pedestrians as it sped through a narrow alleyway with stalls on either side.

People could be seen fleeing in panic as some attended to bodies left strewn on the ground.

Police arrested the 50-year-old suspect who is a doctor from Saudi Arabia and has lived in Germany since 2006, the premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, said.

The suspect had been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 23 miles (36 kilometres) south of Magdeburg, according to officials