Germany Christmas market attack suspect identified as Taleb A
The man suspected of a horrific rampage at a Christmas market in Germany has been identified as a refugee from Saudi Arabia.
A 50-year-old Saudi man has been arrested after a ramming attack that caused carnage at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.
The dark BMW barrelled through a crowd of revellers at high speed, leaving at least two people dead and more than 60 injured.
Footage of the scene appeared to show that the driver did not stop as he ploughed through the crowd and officials have described the attack as an intentional act.
This is what we know so far about the suspect, who German newspaper Bild named as Taleb A.
He is a 50-year-old medical doctor from Saudi Arabia who has been living in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. He was recognised as a refugee in 2016.
The suspect worked as a consultant providing psychiatry and psychotherapy services.
He’s believed to have rented the BMW before the attack.
Video of the suspect’s arrest showed him with his head raised next to a damaged black vehicle as police pointed guns at him. Other police then arrived and arrested him.
Taleb A is an ex-Muslim, a harsh critic of Islam and his social media profile indicates he supports Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right political party, according to the Daily Mail.
Regional premier Reiner Haseloff, speaking at the scene which was cordoned off and guarded by police commandos, said: “We have arrested the perpetrator, a man from Saudi Arabia, a doctor who has been in Germany since 2006.”
Mr Haseloff called the attack a “catastrophe” for the city and the country.
“From what we currently know he was a lone attacker so we don’t think there is any further danger,” he added.
Police said the vehicle was driven “at least 400 metres across the Christmas market” leaving behind a trail of bloodied casualties at the city’s central town hall square.
The attack took place in an area “decked out with scenes from fairytales” where a lot of families with children were gathered.
A small child is among the dead.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry released a statement condemning the attack and expressing “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims”.
‘Pictures are terrible’
Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the chaotic site, which was doused in blue emergency lights with sirens wailing, with badly injured people being treated as they lay on the ground or rushed off to hospitals.
Cries and screams could be heard as around 100 police, medics and the fire service officers deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.
“The pictures are terrible,” said city spokesman Michael Reif. New weekly Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said that a black BMW had barrelled through the crowd at high speed just after 7pm local time (1800 GMT) when the market was filled with revellers.
Haseloff said the Saudi man had driven a rented car with Munich licence plates into the Christmas market.
The Magdeburg city administration said in a Facebook post that 15 people were critically injured, with 37 people suffering serious injuries and 16 sustaining light injuries.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had quickly written on X that “the reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears”.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.” Scholz was expected to travel to the city on Saturday, said the state premier.
Series of attacks
The bloody carnage recalled a 2016 jihadist attack in which a Tunisian man driving a lorry killed 12 people in a Christmas market in Berlin, the country’s worst ever such attack.
A 13th victim died later having suffered serious injuries in the assault, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has recently called on people to be vigilant at Christmas markets, although she said that authorities had not received any specific threats.
Domestic security service the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had warned it considers Christmas markets to be an “ideologically suitable target for Islamist-motivated people”.
Germany has in recent times seen a series of suspected Islamist-motivated knife attacks.
Three people were killed and eight wounded in a stabbing spree at a street festival in the western city of Solingen in August.
Police arrested a Syrian suspect over the attack that was claimed by IS. In June, a policeman was killed in a knife attack in Mannheim, with an Afghan national held as the main suspect.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote that “the anticipation of a peaceful Christmas was suddenly interrupted” but he cautioned that “the background to the terrible deed has yet been clarified”.
The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, Alice Weidel, which has focused on jihadist attacks in its campaign against immigrants, wrote on X “when will this madness stop?” French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “profoundly shocked” the attack and that he “shares the pain of the German people”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also said she was “deeply shocked by the brutal attack on the defenceless crowd”, adding: “Violence must have no place in our democracies.” Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said he was “shocked” by the “terrible attack”.
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