Police in Germany staged what they themselves called a “terrifyingly realistic” anti-terrorism exercise at Cologne Bonn Airport overnight between November 20 and 21. Police in Cologne said the exercise, which involved around 1,000 personnel, was a “valuable training experience.” The airport’s Terminal 1 was closed from 9.30pm on November 20 to 5am the following morning, the airport said. Credit: Cologne Police | German Federal Police via Storyful

A truck has ploughed into several cars in the centre of the German city of Limburg injuring at least 17 people.

The truck was reportedly stolen earlier from a local train station, after the assailant forcefully dragged the driver from the vehicle, according to Frankfurter Neue Presse (FNP).

Soon after, the truck slammed into several cars waiting at a stop light near the main railway station of Limburg in Hesse state, “crushing them together”.

TheFNPreports the driver spoke Arabic and used the word “Allah” in his speech.

One person sustained heavy injuries and is in critical condition, according to the report.

​The attack left at least eight vehicles damaged, with some people jammed inside their cars due to sheer force of the impact, police said.

The driver was also slightly injured and has been detained.

Police would not rule out terror as a motive for the attack.

“We currently do not have sufficient information about what was behind it,” Limburg police said in a statement.

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“The investigation, including questioning witnesses and collecting evidence, is ongoing.

“Based on what we have learned and several witness accounts, the man seized control of the truck at about 5.20pm (2.20am AEDT).”

The rightful driver of the truck, who was not named, said: “A man dragged me out of my lorry.”

He said the man, in his 30s with short dark hair and a full beard, had yanked open the driver-side door and stared at him wide-eyed before forcing him out of the vehicle.

“I asked him ‘What do you want from me?’,” he told FNP.

“He didn’t say a word.”

Witnesses said when the male behind the wheel of the truck emerged from the crash, several passers-by provided first aid.

“The passers-by said the driver said ‘Allah’ several times” and spoke Arabic, FNP reported. Police did not confirm this account.

Bettina Yeisley from Limburg, whose office is directly next to the scene of the crash, told FNP that she heard a loud bang and ran out onto the street with colleagues.

They found the man sitting beneath a tree without knowing he had been driving.

“He was bleeding from the nose, his hands were bloody, his trousers torn. He said that everything hurt. I asked him his name and he said, ‘My name is Mohammed’.”

Germany has been on the alert following several jihadist attacks in recent years.

The most deadly was committed in 2016 by 23-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, who killed 12 people when he stole a truck and drove it through a Berlin Christmas market.