‘If Germany wants war’: warning signs in Christmas market suspect’s threats

Pressure is mounting on German authorities over their lack of action on the alleged Magdeburg Christmas market attacker despite his long history of violence and threats.

Taleb al-Abdulmohsen lies on the ground as he is arrested by an armed policeman in Magdeburg. Picture: supplied

The German authorities are under pressure to explain why a doctor accused of murdering a child and four women with a car at a Christmas market was not stopped despite being well known to police.

Taleb al-Abdulmohsen’s criminal record, including a 2013 conviction for threatening acts of violence, recent online threats and an outburst in court, have prompted calls for an inquiry.

It has also emerged that the route used to attack the market in Magdeburg, left free of static concrete barriers to allow access for emergency services, should have been blocked by a police van but was not.

Nancy Faeser, the interior minister, whose Social Democrat party (SPD) is facing probable defeat in national elections early next year, promised that Abdulmohsen’s calls for violence on social media would be scrutinised.

Taleb al-Abdulmohsen is a suspect in Friday’s attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg. Picture: Supplied

“The investigative authorities will clarify all the background,” she told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

“In doing so, they will also examine in detail what clues there were in the past and how they were followed up. The task is to piece together all findings and paint a picture of this perpetrator, who does not fit any existing mould.”

Ms Faeser and Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, faced questions from their own SPD membership over the attacks and why Abdulmohsen was still at liberty.

In one post on X in August, written in Arabic, Abdulmohsen said: “If Germany wants war, we will have it ... we will slaughter them.”

It passed without investigation in a country where people have been arrested for making satirical comments about politicians.

“The cover photo of his [X] account showed an AR-15 [rifle], a weapon that is also used by mass murderers. That should have set off all the alarm bells for the police,” said Rudiger Erben, an SPD deputy in the regional parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, which includes Magdeburg.

“For me, this is a question of a sense of duty, but also of supervision.”

Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of the far-left populist BSW party, which has surged in opinion polls, said: “The background must be clarified. But above all, we must do more to prevent such offences, especially as there were obviously specific warnings and tips in this case that were ignored.”

Holger Munch, the head of federal criminal police, played down the warnings as “unspecific”. He told the broadcaster ZDF: “The man also published a huge number of posts on the internet. He also had contact with various authorities, made insults and even threats. However, he was not known to have committed acts of violence. We have a completely atypical pattern here. We must now analyse this calmly.”

Abdulmohsen, 50, a psychiatrist who fled Saudi Arabia and was granted asylum in 2016, has been off work since the end of October, about the same time he made a violent outburst in a court in Cologne where, according to lawyers present, he threatened the judge.

In September 2013 he was fined euros 900 by a court in Rostock following a dispute over medical examination results in which he threatened to commit a crime that would attract international attention, referring to the Boston Marathon bombing in April that year.

In 2014 he was cautioned by police for threatening violence. The next year, he twice threatened judicial authorities but was not regarded as a threat because he was not ideologically driven. In 2022, he was investigated on suspicion of human trafficking.

Twice last year, the authorities in Saudi Arabia warned that Abdulmohsen was a threat but German police decided that the doctor, who had declared himself a critic of Islam, was not an Islamist and therefore posed no danger.

Earlier this month, immigration officials received a tip-off about an attack planned by Abdulmohsen. They told the informant to contact the police.

The five people killed were Andre Gleissner, nine, and women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, who were all from the area.

Marco Forciniti, 39, who was wounded, said from hospital: “The BMW hit me full on, the force of the impact sent me flying over the car. I wish politicians would do more to ensure our safety.”

The Times