Authorities in Germany are investigating a Saudi man with an apparent history of anti-Islam rhetoric as the main suspect in a car-ramming attack that killed five people, including a nine-year-old child.
Hundreds of people were also injured - around 40 seriously or critically - when a vehicle plowed into crowds at a Christmas market in the central-eastern city of Magdeburg on Friday night.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the suspect, who was arrested at the scene, had clearly expressed Islamophobic views. Local media named him as Taleb A., a 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist who moved to Germany in 2006 and lived in nearby Bernberg.
Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens told reporters on Saturday that, while investigations are ongoing, the motive for the attack may be linked to “dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia and how they’ve been treated in Germany,” reported BBC News.
Verified social media posts linked to the alleged perpetrator include content critical of Islam and the German authorities' handling of migration. In 2019, the suspect gave TV interviews speaking of his activism helping Saudi refugees and individuals who have turned their back on Islam.
German police said that the car was driven through an emergency access route to the Christmas market around 7 p.m. on Friday night. It is believed the suspect acted alone, the authorities said, adding that the attack lasted just three minutes.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the suspect, who was arrested at the scene, had clearly expressed Islamophobic views. Local media named him as Taleb A., a 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist who moved to Germany in 2006 and lived in nearby Bernberg.
Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens told reporters on Saturday that, while investigations are ongoing, the motive for the attack may be linked to “dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia and how they’ve been treated in Germany,” reported BBC News.
Verified social media posts linked to the alleged perpetrator include content critical of Islam and the German authorities' handling of migration. In 2019, the suspect gave TV interviews speaking of his activism helping Saudi refugees and individuals who have turned their back on Islam.
German police said that the car was driven through an emergency access route to the Christmas market around 7 p.m. on Friday night. It is believed the suspect acted alone, the authorities said, adding that the attack lasted just three minutes.
Far-right backlash
The attack comes in a period of heightened political tension in Germany, with migration a key topic - especially in eastern regions - ahead of a snap parliamentary election in February.
Figures on the political hard right immediately sought to link the Magdeburg attack to Islamic extremism and Germany’s immigration policy, drawing parallels with the 2016 massacre in a Berlin Christmas market that was perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State.
It emerged, however, that the Magdeburg suspect had expressed sympathy for the German far-right.
Posts on his account on social media platform X, verified by the Reuters news agency, indicated support for anti-Islam and far-right parties, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD), as well as criticism of Germany for its handling of Saudi refugees.
Taleb A. appeared in a number of media interviews in 2019, including with the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper and the BBC, in which he spoke of his work as an activist helping Saudi Arabians and ex-Muslims flee to Europe, Reuters reported.
“There is no good Islam,” he told FAZ at the time.
A Saudi source told Reuters that the Middle Eastern country’s authorities had warned their German counterparts multiple times about the extremist views of the alleged attacker.
German security sources cited by Die Welt newspaper said the suspect had been investigated last year by federal officials, who concluded the man posed “no specific danger”, Reuters added.
Influential individuals on the international hard right, from Marine Le Pen in France to American tech billionaire Elon Musk, were quick to express outrage following Friday’s massacre.
Musk, a key advisor to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, called on the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to resign and said that the AfD was Germany’s “only hope”.
However, when it emerged that Taleb A. was most likely not an Islamic extremist, some anti-migrant commentators changed their line, Reuters reported. Martin Sellner, an Austrian popular with Germany's far-right, posted on social media that the suspect's motives “seemed to have been complex", adding that the suspect “hated Islam, but he hated the Germans more.”
Figures on the political hard right immediately sought to link the Magdeburg attack to Islamic extremism and Germany’s immigration policy, drawing parallels with the 2016 massacre in a Berlin Christmas market that was perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State.
It emerged, however, that the Magdeburg suspect had expressed sympathy for the German far-right.
Posts on his account on social media platform X, verified by the Reuters news agency, indicated support for anti-Islam and far-right parties, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD), as well as criticism of Germany for its handling of Saudi refugees.
Taleb A. appeared in a number of media interviews in 2019, including with the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper and the BBC, in which he spoke of his work as an activist helping Saudi Arabians and ex-Muslims flee to Europe, Reuters reported.
“There is no good Islam,” he told FAZ at the time.
A Saudi source told Reuters that the Middle Eastern country’s authorities had warned their German counterparts multiple times about the extremist views of the alleged attacker.
German security sources cited by Die Welt newspaper said the suspect had been investigated last year by federal officials, who concluded the man posed “no specific danger”, Reuters added.
Influential individuals on the international hard right, from Marine Le Pen in France to American tech billionaire Elon Musk, were quick to express outrage following Friday’s massacre.
Musk, a key advisor to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, called on the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to resign and said that the AfD was Germany’s “only hope”.
However, when it emerged that Taleb A. was most likely not an Islamic extremist, some anti-migrant commentators changed their line, Reuters reported. Martin Sellner, an Austrian popular with Germany's far-right, posted on social media that the suspect's motives “seemed to have been complex", adding that the suspect “hated Islam, but he hated the Germans more.”
‘Terrible act,’ says Scholz
Chancellor Scholz visited the scene of the slaughter on Saturday and laid a white rose at a church in memory of the victims.
“What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality,” the chancellor said.
“We have now learned that over 200 people have been injured,” he added. “Almost 40 are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”
Later on Saturday, Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier joined Scholz for a memorial service in Magdeburg Cathedral, the BBC reported. Another commemoration, held in a Berlin church, was attended by German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. Polish diplomat Jan Tombiński and Ireland’s ambassador expressed condolences on behalf of EU embassies in the German capital.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the center-right opposition Christian Democrat party, which is leading the polls ahead of the forthcoming elections, cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions.
"Yesterday's horrific act in Magdeburg does not fit the familiar pattern," he said.
The suspect’s home was searched overnight, Reuters reported. A spokesperson for a specialist rehabilitation clinic for criminals with addictions in nearby Bernburg told the news agency that the suspect had worked as a psychiatrist for them, but had not been at work since October due to sickness and holiday leave.
“What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality,” the chancellor said.
“We have now learned that over 200 people have been injured,” he added. “Almost 40 are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”
Later on Saturday, Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier joined Scholz for a memorial service in Magdeburg Cathedral, the BBC reported. Another commemoration, held in a Berlin church, was attended by German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. Polish diplomat Jan Tombiński and Ireland’s ambassador expressed condolences on behalf of EU embassies in the German capital.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the center-right opposition Christian Democrat party, which is leading the polls ahead of the forthcoming elections, cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions.
"Yesterday's horrific act in Magdeburg does not fit the familiar pattern," he said.
The suspect’s home was searched overnight, Reuters reported. A spokesperson for a specialist rehabilitation clinic for criminals with addictions in nearby Bernburg told the news agency that the suspect had worked as a psychiatrist for them, but had not been at work since October due to sickness and holiday leave.
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