The suspect in the deadly attack on a X-mas market in Germany is a physician and self-described Saudi dissident who has expressed anti-Islamic views, authorities said, and appears to have supported a far-right, anti-immigrant party.
At least five people were killed and more than 200 wounded Friday night when a car plowed into a crowd in the central German city of Magdeburg, about 80 miles west of Berlin. A 9-year-old child was among the dead, investigators told reporters Saturday.
Almost 40 of the survivors “are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a visit to the scene.
“What a terrible act it is, to kill and injure so many people with such brutality,” Scholz said. It was important now, he said, that the country “stays together” and did “not allow those who wish to sow hate” to do so. The chancellor lost a vote of confidence on Monday, triggering the dissolution of parliament and early elections in February.
Reiner Haseloff, the premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, described the attack as “a terrible tragedy, a catastrophe for the city of Magdeburg, for the state and for Germany in general,” and said authorities believed the suspect acted alone.
Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, has been charged with five counts of murder and 200 counts of attempted murder, German media reported.
Abdulmohsen, who arrived in Germany in 2006, describes himself as a Saudi dissident, according to a German official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation. He lived and worked as psychiatric specialist at a clinic in Bernburg, 30 miles south of Magdeburg. The Saudi government said it had warned German authorities multiple times to be aware of him.
“We can only say with certainty that the perpetrator was obviously Islamophobic,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters.
A possible motive was Abdulmohsen’s “dissatisfaction” with how Saudi refugees were treated in Germany, said Horst Walter Nopens, Magdeburg’s chief prosecutor.
Another official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said police were searching the suspect’s home and believed he may have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack. Abdulmohsen was arrested at the scene.
Abdulmohsen worked at the Bernburg clinic since March 2020, its nonprofit parent company, Salus Altmark Holding, said on social media, but he had been out since October with illness and vacation. The company said it was cooperating with the investigators.
The Saudi government had flagged Abdulmohsen on four occasions as a person of whom someone the German authorities needed to be aware, according to a Saudi official.
“It was communicated to them that some of his statements were problematic and could be a threat,” said the official who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the a sensitive matter. A European official said It was clear that the Saudis had been monitoring Abdulmohsen’s social media postings, a European official said.
German authorities received at least one warning from Saudi Arabia in the past year, two German officials confirmed, but it was unclear what was done in response. How the information was handled was under review as part of the investigation. One of the officials said he feared that the warning may have been interpreted as the Saudis complaining about a perceived political opponent of the Kingdom and was not taken seriously.
The Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry condemned the incident, which occurred about 80 miles west of Berlin, and expressed solidarity with the victims in a statement.
World leaders shared messages of solidarity. “The United States extends our deepest condolences to the people of Germany grieving the terrible attack,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. He said his administration was in “close touch” with German officials.
France, which suffered a truck attack in 2016 that killed 86 people, “shares the pain of the German people,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media.
Friday’s incident triggered memories of previous attacks. In 2016, a man drove a truck into a X-mas market in Berlin and killed 12 people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.
Three people were killed in a stabbing rampage at a festival in Solingen in August. Officials said they were investigating whether the suspect was a member of the Islamic State.
Migration and law and order are emerging as central issues in Germany’s federal elections in February. A lawmaker from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is polling in second place, blamed the Christian Democratic Union of Germany for letting migrants into the country.
Elon Musk wrote on X that German chancellor Scholz “should resign immediately,” and expressed agreement with a post that claimed that “only the AfD would have prevented the attack.” Far-right accounts online were quick to accuse the alleged perpetrator of Islamist terrorism.
German officials, and an X account that appeared to belong to the suspect, suggested the suspect held vehemently anti-Islamic views. “The AfD and I are fighting the same enemy to protect Germany,” read one message posted in 2016. The account also shared posts from AfD politicians and other far-right figures, and alleged that Germany “wants to islamize Europe.”
Peter Neumann, a professor of security studies at King’s College London, expressed surprise at the suspect’s profile. “A 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists – that really wasn’t on my radar,” he wrote on X.
Security was increased at X-mas markets in Berlin, Halle and Leipzig following the attack, according to German media. Flags on federal buildings will be flown at half-staff in a display of mourning for the victims, Faeser said Saturday.
Faeser last month urged “great vigilance” at X-mas markets, a popular holiday tradition across Europe. There were no “concrete indications of dangers,” she told Germany’s RND, but warned of a “high threat situation.”
Scholtz noted that the attack came five days before the holiday. Normally, he lamented, “there is no place more peaceful or cheerful than a X-mas market.”
(c) 2024, The Washington Post • Victoria Bisset, Kelsey Ables, Souad Mekhennet, Bryan Pietsch