Several people were injured after a car drove into a group of people in a northern German town close to Hanover shortly before midnight on Monday, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday.

A BMW was driven deliberately into a group of people in Neustadt am Ruebenberge, leaving four to five of them with injuries ranging from minor to severe, the spokesperson said.

A police patrol that was nearby carrying out a routine traffic check intervened and prevented further harm. 

Officers fired shots at the vehicle during the incident, the spokesperson said, but the occupants fled on foot.

Emergency services deployed numerous personnel including heavily armed police, who secured the crime scene. 

A helicopter and a police dog were also deployed. The crime scene was cordoned off for several hours.

The injured were taken to hospital. None of them are in life-threatening condition, according to authorities.

Emergency services deployed numerous personnel including heavily armed police, who secured the crime scene (File pic)

Initial information suggests those involved were known to each other, and the victims were likely chosen deliberately. 

The occupants of the BMW fled and remain at large, the spokesperson added.

‘The sequence of events and the exact involvement of those involved are still part of the investigation,’ said the police spokesperson. 

It comes just months after a car ramming occurred in the country at Berlin’s pride celebration, killing one person and injuring 29.

On July 25, Lebanese-German ISIS terrorist Abdul Ballout rammed a van into a crowd during the capital’s annual Christopher Street Day parade.

The 21-year-old was shot and killed during a police operation at a garden complex in Spandau, west Berlin, the following day.