Four women and a nine-year-old boy were killed and 200 people were injured when a man drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday evening (December 20). Here is what is known so far.
Just after 7 pm, eyewitnesses saw a Black SUV drive through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car. One woman recalled seeing the car bursting out of the market, turning right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee street and then coming to a standstill at a tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
Though concrete barriers were placed around the area to prevent large vehicles from coming through, there was a gap left for emergency access, wide enough for a car to speed through.
Who are the victims?
Police say the dead are four women, aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and a boy, aged 9. Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 in serious condition.
Who is the suspect in the attack in Germany?
Prosecutors said the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, is under investigation on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. In a closed-door hearing on Saturday evening, a judge ordered that he be kept in custody pending a possible indictment.
Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practising medicine in Bernburg, about 40 km south of Magdeburg.
The suspect’s X account describes him as a former Muslim. It is filled with posts focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamification of Europe.”
He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. It has gained some ground in some recent local elections, although most mainstream parties have not seriously considered allying with it so far.
Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum-seekers.
What was the likely motive?
Investigators are analysing the suspect’s electronic devices and other evidence. Prosecutors said the motive may have been “dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany.”
There are unanswered questions about what the authorities knew about the suspect. The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Münch, said the agency — Germany’s equivalent of the FBI — received a warning from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, but the information was unspecific. Münch said the suspect “published a huge number of posts on the internet,” was in contact with various authorities and “made insults and even threats” — but was not known to be violent.
According to sources who spoke with CNN, Saudi authorities first warned German authorities about Taleb in 2007, connected to their concerns that he “expressed radical views of varying kinds”. Saudi Arabia also considered him a fugitive and requested his extradition from Germany between 2007 and 2008, the source said, adding that German authorities refused, citing concerns for the man’s safety should he return.
Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also acknowledged it had received a warning about the suspect last year. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing criticism about security lapses that allowed the attack to happen.
(With Associated Press inputs)
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