German authorities received a tip last year about the suspect in the attack on the Christmas market – National
German authorities said they received a tip last year about a suspect in a car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg as more information emerged on Sunday about five people killed.
Authorities identified the suspect as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and obtained a permanent residence permit. Police have not publicly named the suspect, in accordance with privacy laws, but some German media outlets identified him as Taleb A. and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Authorities say he does not fit the general mold of extremists. He described himself as a former Muslim who was very critical of Islam and in many posts on social media he expressed his support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
He is being held in custody as authorities investigate him.
The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Münch, in an interview with German broadcaster ZDF on Saturday that his office received a report from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, which led the authorities to introduce “appropriate investigative measures.”
“This man also published a number of documents on the Internet. He also contacted various authorities, made insults and even threats. However, he was not known to commit violence,” said Münch, whose office is the equivalent of Germany's FBI.
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He said the warnings, however, appeared to be misguided.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also said on Saturday X that it received information about the suspect late last summer.
“This is taken seriously, like all other tips,” the office said. But it also noted that it is not the investigating authority and referred the information to the responsible authorities. It did not provide further details.
The Central Council of Ex-Muslims said in a statement that the suspect had “terrorized” them for years as he expressed shock at the attack.
“It is clear that he shares the beliefs from the far side of the AfD and believes in a grand conspiracy aimed at creating an Islamic Germany. His misconceptions went as far as thinking that even organizations that criticize Islam are part of an Islamist conspiracy,” the statement said.
The chairman of this group, Mina Ahadi, in the same statement said: “At first we suspected that he might be a mole in the Islamic movement. But now I think he's a psychopath who clings to conspiracy theories.”
The police in Magdeburg, the capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, said on Sunday that four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and a 9-year-old boy had died.
Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 in critical condition. They were being treated in several hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, and beyond.
The suspect was brought before a judge on Saturday night, who ordered that he be kept in custody on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. He is facing possible charges.
The fear caused by yet another act of mass violence in Germany makes it likely that migration will remain a key issue as the country heads to elections before Feb. 23. The fatal knife attack in Solingen in August brought this issue to the fore. agenda, and led Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government to tighten border security measures.
Right-wing figures from across Europe have criticized German authorities for allowing high levels of migration in the past and for what they see as security failures now.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, known for his strong anti-immigration stance over the years, used the German attack to criticize the European Union's migration policies and described it as a “terrorist act.”
At the annual press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Orbán insisted that “there is no doubt that there is a connection between the changed world in Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and acts of terrorism.”
Orbán vowed to “fight back” against the EU's migration policies and said without evidence that “Brussels wants Magdeburg to happen in Hungary as well.”
© 2024 The Canadian Press
