Magdeburg

Germany, car on Christmas market: 5 killed and over 200 injured. Spiegel: the bomber is a Saudi sympathiser of Afd

In Magdeburg. One of the victims is a child. The attacker allegedly acted as a 'lone wolf'.

20 December 2024Aggiornato il 21 dicembre 2024, alle ore 12.40

TOPSHOT - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (3R), State Premier of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff (2R), German Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection Steffi Lemke (2L), German Minister for Transport and Digital Affairs and of Justice Volker Wissing (3L) and leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz (L) visit the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 21, 2024, resulting in several deaths and dozens of injured. German media reports that the death toll has risen to four over night and up to 200 injured in the attack on December 20th. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)

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The toll of the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg 'is even more terrible than we estimated last night: five people are dead (including a nine-year-old child) and over 200 injured, many of them seriously'. This was said by the governor of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, during a press point with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

It was a terrorist attack, the authorities of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, of which Magdeburg is the capital, announced; the news was also confirmed by the government in Berlin.

Prosecutor, 'killer dissatisfied with refugee management'

"As things stand" the motive of the Magdeburg bomber "could be dissatisfaction with the way Saudi refugees are treated in Germany". This was said by the chief prosecutor of Magdeburg, Horst Walter Nopens, at a press conference.

Police Magdeburg, 'lone gesture, excluding accomplices'

"At present we assume that this was an attack by one person. The clues exclude an accomplice." This was said by Magdeburg police chief Tom-Oliver Langhans at a press conference, giving some details of eri's attack. The first emergency call was received at 19:02. For a short time it was thought that there had been an accident. However, he explained, as the distress calls multiplied, 'the scenario of an attack quickly emerged'. The perpetrator deliberately 'exploited escape and rescue routes' to mow down people, Langhans further explained, pointing out that the attack took place in 'a time window of about three minutes'.

An anti-Islamic Saudi doctor 'drug test positive'

According to Der Spiegel, the bomber is said to be Taleb Al Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian who immigrated to Germany in 2006 to study. He was granted refugee status in 2016 because he had been threatened with death for renouncing Islam. He is a psychiatrist who lives and works in Bernburg, a city of 32,000 inhabitants between Halle and Magdeburg.

Taleb Al Abdulmohsen turned to anti-Islamic activism, offering Saudi women information on how to flee their country and running a website on the German asylum system. In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper in 2019, he said that Saudi women came to him seeking protection and that asylum in Germany was the way 'to achieve freedom'.

Taleb Al Abdulmohsensi has become increasingly radicalised, to the point of claiming on his X account that Berlin must 'protect its borders from illegal immigration', because the open borders policy 'was Merkel's plan to Islamise Europe'. These are the arguments put forward by politicians of Alternative für Deutschland. And there is no shortage of posts explicitly sympathising with the ultra-right: "Who else is fighting Islam in Germany?" they write.

In a video interview published on a US Islamophobic blog, Taleb Al Abdulmohsen accuses the German state of conducting a 'covert operation' to 'hunt down former Saudi Muslims around the world and destroy their lives', but grants asylum to Syrian jihadists.

"I am the most aggressive critic of Islam in history. If you don't believe me, ask the Arabs." This is a passage from an interview that the alleged perpetrator of the Brandenburg market attack gave to the Faz in June 2019, republished today by the German newspaper. The German newspaper points out that the posts the suspected bomber made on social media indicate that in the five and a half years since then he has become increasingly critical of Germany and its migration policy. According to the Faz in the social media posts there are also traces of the alleged bomber's 'paranoia', an element that did not emerge from the interview five years ago.

The police questioned the man late Friday evening, who was allegedly under the influence of drugs. This was reported by the Bild, citing police circles, reporting that an initial drug test on the 50-year-old doctor, originally from Saudi Arabia, came back positive.

Scholz today in Magdeburg, commemoration ceremony in the evening

The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, travelled to Magdeburg today to visit the site of the attack. Accompanying him was Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. In the evening, a memorial service is planned in the cathedral of the Saxony-Anhalt city.

The attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg is 'a terrible and insane action. It is now important to shed light on it and to do so with the utmost precision and accuracy,' the chancellor said during a press point. "For me it is important that we stand united as a country and talk to each other. It is not hatred that determines our coexistence, but the fact that we are a community that wants to win a common future and that we do not let those who want to sow hatred win."

Il cancelliere tedesco Olaf Scholz, il primo ministro della Sassonia-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff e il ministro dei trasporti Volker Wissing e il ministro degli interni Nancy Faeser visitano il luogo in cui un’auto ha investito la folla di un mercatino di Natale a Magdeburgo, in Germania, il 21 dicembre 2024. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

Farnesina: no Italians among victims in Magdeburg

The Italian embassy in Berlin reports that, according to police information, there are no Italians among the confirmed victims in the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market. The embassy continues to monitor the situation of the injured, but there are currently no reports of Italians among the hundreds of people contacted.

The capital of Saxony-Anhalt

Magdeburg, the capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, has a population of about 240,000 and is about two hours' drive west of Berlin.
According to eyewitness accounts, the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market began at 7:04 p.m. when a dark BMW drove into the crowd. This was reported by Bild, adding that police were searching the cordoned-off area of the Christmas market for explosives. Immediately after the attack, the city of Halle and also Erfurt increased security measures for their Christmas market. Hospitals in the city, some 80 kilometres away, are preparing to receive the injured.

The incident brings back memories of the Berlin precedent. On 19 December 2016, an Islamic extremist attacker drove a truck through a crowd of Christmas market participants, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to the Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.

Biden, Magdeburg attack a despicable act

"The United States expresses its deepest condolences to the German people in mourning the terrible attack yesterday at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany." Joe Biden wrote in a note. "No community and no family should have to endure such a despicable and dark event, especially just days before a holiday of joy and peace," the president said, assuring that the US was prepared to provide whatever help Berlin needed. "My team has been in close contact with German officials," he added.