MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Five people were killed, including a 9-year-old, after a Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market full of holiday visitors in the German city of Magdeburg, officials said Saturday, as people mourned the victims and their shaken sense of safety .
City official Ronni Krug provided no further information Friday evening about the adults killed in the attack. He said 200 people were injured, 41 of whom were in serious or very serious condition.
How did the attack go?
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Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old manicurist from Vietnam – whose salon is in a shopping center across the street from the Christmas market – was on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs and at first thought they were fireworks. She then saw a car driving through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.
The woman recalled seeing the car rush out of the market, turn right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee and then come to a stop at the tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
The market itself was still cordoned off on Saturday with red and white tape and police vans every 50 meters. Police with submachine guns guarded every entrance to the market. There are still some thermal safety blankets on the street.
Who is the man behind the attack?
Prosecutors said the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, was under investigation on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm.
Several German media identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his surname in accordance with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has lived in Germany since 2006 and practices medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers south of Magdeburg. officials said.
Taleb’s X-report describes him as a former Muslim. It is full of tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulatory messages for Muslims who have left the faith. He criticized German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.” He has also expressed support for the far-right and anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed to focus on his theory that German authorities have targeted Saudi asylum seekers.
The motives behind the attack
There were still no answers Saturday as to what motivated the man to drive his black BMW into a crowd in the eastern German city.
Prosecutors said the motive may have been “dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany,” but investigators are still trying to get to the bottom of what was behind the attack.
Investigators must analyze computers, mobile devices and other evidence, “and ultimately we will know, or at least hope to know, what drove him to this act.”
A series of violence
The violence shocked Germany and the city, prompting several other German cities to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and in solidarity with the loss of Magdeburg. Berlin kept its markets open but has increased police presence there.
Germany has suffered a series of extremist attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and injured eight during a festival in the western city of Solingen in August. These attacks have led cities to increase security at Christmas markets and other events.
Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a busy Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later during a gun battle in Italy.
