German authorities had received tipoffs about suspect in Christmas market attack that killed 5
German authorities said they received a tip about the suspect during an investigation last year Car attack at Christmas market On Sunday, more details emerged about the five people killed.
The authorities have Suspect identified A Saudi doctor, he arrived in Germany in 2006 and was granted permanent residency. Police have not released the suspect’s name due to privacy rules, but some German news outlets have identified him as Taleb A. and reported that he is an expert in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Authorities said he did not fit the typical profile of a perpetrator of extremist attacks. He describes himself as a former Muslim who is highly critical of Islam and has expressed support for the far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in many posts on social media.
Authorities are investigating him and he is currently in custody.
Federal Criminal Police Chief Holger Münch said in an interview with German broadcaster ZDF on Saturday that his office received a tip from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, which led authorities to take “appropriate measures.” Investigative Measures”.
German FAZ newspaper It said it interviewed the suspect in 2019 and described him as an anti-Islamic activist.
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“The man also made numerous posts on the Internet. He also made contact with various authorities, making insults and even threats. However, it is understood that he did not commit violent acts,” said Monk of the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office. Equivalent to the FBI.
But he said the warnings proved to be very unspecific.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also said on Saturday that it had received a tip-off about the suspects late last summer.
“Like many other reports, this is taken seriously,” the office said, but it also noted that it was not an investigative agency and would refer information to the competent authorities. It provided no other details.
The Central Council of Ex-Muslims said in a statement that the suspects had been “terrorizing” them for years and expressed shock at the attack.
“He clearly shares the same beliefs as the far-right wing of the Alternative for Germany and believes in a massive conspiracy to Islamize Germany. His delusions are so deep that he believes even organizations critical of Islamism are part of an Islamist conspiracy,” the statement said.
“At first we suspected he might be a mole within the Islamist movement. But now I think he is a psychopath adhering to a far-right conspiracy ideology,” Mina Ahadi, the group’s president, said in the same statement.
Police in Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt state, said on Sunday that the dead included four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy.
Authorities said a total of 200 people were injured, 41 of them seriously. They are being treated at various hospitals in Magdeburg, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin and beyond.
The suspect was brought before a judge on Saturday night, who secretly ordered him detained on charges of murder and attempted murder. He may face prosecution.
Immigration is likely to remain a key issue as the country holds snap elections on February 23, amid another horrific incident of mass violence in Germany. A fatal knife attack in Solingen in August brought the issue to the forefront. agenda, and leads Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to strengthen border security measures.
Right-wing figures from across Europe have criticized German authorities for allowing large numbers of immigrants in the past and now for what they see as security failures.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor OrbanKnown for his strong anti-immigration stance years ago, he used the attacks in Germany to lash out at the EU’s immigration policies, describing them as an “act of terror.”
Speaking at his annual press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Orban insisted that “there is no doubt that there is a link between the changing world in Western Europe and migration there, particularly illegal migration, and acts of terrorism.”
Orban has vowed to “fight back” against the EU’s migration policies, claiming without evidence that “Brussels wants Magdeburg to happen in Hungary as well”.
