Germany Magdeburg attack: authorities received tips
Following the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg, which left five people dead and many seriously injured, the question of whether the act of violence could have been prevented is coming into focus. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf), it received information about the suspected perpetrator in late summer 2023. According to the head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, proceedings were initiated after a tip-off from Saudi Arabia about the man.
22.12.2024, 12:43
SDA
The 50-year-old Taleb A. is said to have driven a car into the group of people at a Christmas market in the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt early on Friday evening. A nine-year-old child and four women were killed and more than 200 others were injured. Many of them suffered serious and extremely serious injuries, so the death toll could rise further. Taleb A., who was arrested immediately after the attack, is a doctor from Bernburg, south of Magdeburg, who is known as an activist critical of Islam. He is now in custody.
Federal Office received tip-off
According to the Federal Office, it received the tip-off about the suspect via its social media channels. "This was taken seriously, like every other of the numerous tips," the Bamf wrote on the X platform. As the Federal Office is not an investigating authority, the person providing the information was referred directly to the responsible authorities, as is usual in such cases.
Screenshots are currently circulating on the internet that are said to show messages sent to the Bamf by a person with warnings about the alleged perpetrator. The authenticity of these screenshots could not initially be verified.
The newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" reported on a woman who had sent warnings about Taleb A. to the Bamf's X account at the end of 2023. She had previously tried to warn the Berlin police about the man. Her email was not received because she accidentally sent it to the police of a municipality called Berlin in the USA, the newspaper reported.
The Berlin police wrote on X that screenshots with alleged tips to them in connection with Magdeburg were currently circulating. "At this time, we cannot confirm these tips, nor can we rule out a fake. The investigation into this is ongoing," it said on Saturday evening. Regardless of this, the alleged perpetrator was known to the Berlin judiciary: According to dpa information, a case had been filed there by the public prosecutor's office for the misuse of emergency calls by Taleb A. "Der Spiegel" had reported first.
The director of the Magdeburg police station, Tom-Oliver Langhans, explained at a press conference on Saturday that the police had filed a criminal complaint in the past. "There have also been attempts on our part to carry out a threat assessment. This is now also the subject of the investigation, which, as far as I am aware, has not yet come to that in these proceedings." However, these proceedings took place a year ago.
BKA: No evidence of an Islamist-motivated attack
The head of the BKA, Münch, said on ZDF's "heute journal" that - unlike similar attacks in the past - there was no evidence of an attack motivated by Islamism. The Federal Public Prosecutor General has also not yet clearly stated how the facts of the case should be classified. The suspect had an Islamophobic attitude and had also been involved with right-wing extremist platforms, said the head of the Federal Criminal Police Office. However, it is not yet possible to say conclusively that the crime was politically motivated.
Terrorism expert Peter Neumann said on ZDF television that the suspect did not fit into any particular mold. "He was not a typical Islamist. He was a Saudi who turned against Islam." That doesn't really fit into the usual patterns for the authorities. What's more, today there is a flood of information from thousands of people sending similar messages on the internet. "And it's very, very difficult to differentiate: Who is serious, and who is just on the internet making slogans?"
What could be the motive for the crime?
Senior public prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said on Saturday that the alleged perpetrator's motive could have been dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia in Germany. A spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office said on Sunday that the man's statements on his motives had sounded rather confused.
On social networks, the arrested man presented himself as a vehement critic of Islam and the repressive power apparatus in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, he campaigned for the interests of women in particular from his arch-conservative home country. In social media and interviews, he has recently made accusations against German authorities, some of which have been formulated in a confused manner, accusing them of not doing enough to combat Islamism, among other things.
According to information from the German Press Agency, the suspect says that he used to be a Muslim but has since turned away from the faith. In February 2016, he applied for asylum, which was approved in July of the same year. The Saudi citizen was granted asylum as a politically persecuted person at the time.
Only around ten days ago, the American platform "RAIR", which describes itself as an anti-Muslim grassroots organization, published an interview with the doctor lasting more than 45 minutes. In it, he accused the German police of deliberately destroying the lives of Saudi asylum seekers who had renounced Islam. He also presented himself as a fan of X-owner Elon Musk, who now represents positions of the American right, and the AfD, which pursues the same goals as him. At the same time, however, he described himself as politically left-wing.
Debate about the security concept
The fact that the suspect was able to enter the Christmas market in his car despite security measures is also causing debate. He is said to have entered the market via an escape and rescue route, as reported by police inspector Langhans. Ronni Krug, the city's deputy for personnel, citizen services and order, commented on this: The security concept for the market had been drawn up "to the best of our knowledge and belief" and had last been tightened up in November.
In contrast, extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler expressed doubts about the security concept on ARD's "Tagesthemen" program. It has been known for years that vehicles and gatherings of people are a very dangerous combination. It is therefore "difficult to explain why a vehicle managed to get into a Christmas market in Germany", he said.
