Five people have died and at least 40 people have been injured after a car ploughed into Christmas parade-goers and performers in the US state of Wisconsin.

A marching band was travelling through the main street of Waukesha, a suburb of Milwaukee, when a red Ford SUV burst past barriers and into the parade.

A live feed and multiple cameras of the parade captured the horrific incident.

Nine News US correspondent Amelia Adams told Deborah Knight at least 20 people have been injured in the earliest reports.

“We don’t know about casualties or deaths but it will be very hard to imagine everyone surviving this from the pictures I’m looking at.”

The offender, who was known to police, has been taken into custody but nothing is yet known about his motive.

Officials will not comment on whether or not the incident is a terrorist attack.

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