According to a German official, the man has been identified as Taleb A who has been living in Germany since 2006 and is a resident of the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. According to CNN, the suspect's now-deleted social media handle suggested that in the past he made anti-Islam posts, expressed sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and even accused Germany of promoting the Islamization of the country.
π Within hours since a car rammed into a bustling Christmas market in Germany's Magdeburg, police apprehended a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia as the prime suspect behind the attack that killed which killed five people while over 200 were left injured.
πA CCTV footage of the area showed a black BMW driving through the Christmas market for over 400 metres on Friday.
π³Commenting on the development, regional premier Reiner Haseloff told the media, "We have arrested the perpetrator, a man from Saudi Arabia, a doctor who has been in Germany since 2006. From what we currently know, he was a lone attacker, so we don't think there is any further danger."
π¦According to Haseloff, the man has been identified as Taleb A who has been living in Germany since 2006 and is a resident of the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. According to CNN, the suspect's now-deleted social media handle suggested that in the past he made anti-Islam posts, expressed sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and even accused Germany of promoting the Islamization of the country.
An India Todayβ report suggested that Taleb was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He born in the Saudi Arabian city of Hofuf in 1974 and secured a permanent residence permit for Germany in 2006.
πΈAccording to BBC, after shifting to Germany, Taleb set up a website called wearesaudi.net in an attempt to aid ex-Muslims flee Saudi and other Gulf states and create an information resource for others to do the same.
πReports also suggest that Taleb is wanted by Saudi Arabia on charges related to terrorism and smuggling girls from the Middle East to EU countries.
κ§Reacting to the incident, US Vice President-elect JD Vance first asked 'Who was driving the car?' before terming it an βattack' considering the timing of the incident right ahead of Christmas.
π±He wrote, βOur prayers go to the people affected by this terrible attack on a Christmas market in Germany. What a ghastly attack so close to Christmas.β
Reiterating the context of Germany refusing to extradite the suspect to Saudi Arabia and granting him asylum despite the charges against himtech titan Elon Musk said smaller German authorities.
ꦑIn a post on X, Musk said whoever refused to "extradite a murderer" deserved to be "punished severely".