What we know about the suspect behind the German Christmas market attack

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This article was published 21/12/2024 (351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CAIRO (AP) — Authorities have not formally named the suspect in the car ramming in the city of Magdeburg that killed at least five people and wounded hundreds, saying only that he is a Saudi doctor who has lived in Germany for nearly two decades and that he acted alone.

Local media say he is 50-year-old Taleb A, a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist.

He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening.

Taleb’s X account describes him as a former Muslim. It is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum-seekers.

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had never before come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.

“After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance toward Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar,” he wrote.

On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters: “At this point, we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic — we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation and we have to wait.”

A German-based organization called Atheist Refugee Relief said the alleged attacker was not a part of the group and claimed that he made “numerous accusations and claims” against it and former board members, which it said were false.

Originally, there was a plan to work together to coordinate aid for atheist refugees from Saudi Arabia, it said. However, this cooperation failed.

“We distance ourselves from him in the strongest terms,” the group said in a statement on its website, adding that members of Atheist Refugee Relief filed a criminal complaint against him in 2019 following “the most foul slander and verbal attacks.”