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UPDATED December 21, 2024, 9:45 Details are emerging about the identity of the man who drove a rental car into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany on Friday evening. Saxony-Anhalt premier Reiner Haseloff (CDU) confirmed that the driver of the car, Taleb A., is a doctor from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany since 2006.
Initial German media reports indicated that at least 11 people had died and 80 were injured after the driver of a BMW plowed into the Magdeburg Christmas market. Those figures were updated on Friday evening by Saxony-Anhalt Minister-President Reiner Haseloff (CDU) who reported that at least two people had died, including a small child. The city of Magdeburg reported 63 injured people on Friday evening, including 15 seriously injured.
Police arrested the driver, identified as Taleb A., shortly after the attack. According to Bild, Taleb A. was born in Saudi Arabia in 1974. He has been in Germany since 2006 and lives in Germany with a permanent residence permit. He was reportedly recognized as a refugee in Germany in 2016.
According to Welt, the alleged perpetrator is said to have worked as a doctor in a correctional facility in Bernburg, around 46 kilometers from Magdeburg, as a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Hated Islam, but hated Germany more?
In a 2019 interview with FAZ, the alleged perpetrator described himself as the “most aggressive critic of Islam in history.” He is reportedly an atheist and who applied for asylum in Germany because he feared persecution as an unbeliever and critic of Islam in his home country. In a video posted on X on the account of Taleb Al Abdulmohsen (@DrTalebJawad) just minutes after the attack, a man introduces himself as Taleb A., a doctor and psychiatrist who works in Germany. In a confused speech, he says, among other things, that critics of Islam are being “actively and criminally” persecuted in Germany.
On X, the man appears as an ex-Muslim critic of Islam. However, on Friday evening, he posted several videos there in which he says in English: “I hold the German nation responsible for the killing of Socrates.” And “Another reason why I hold German citizens responsible for the persecution I experience in Germany is the story of a USB stick stolen from my mailbox.” Later in the video, he says: “The government is criminal instead of protecting me. The police are the criminals. In this case, I hold the German nation and the German citizens responsible.”
The man’s profile text states in English: “Germany is hunting Saudi asylum seekers inside and outside Germany to destroy their lives.” And: “Germany wants to Islamize Europe.” His cover photo on features a gun with U.S.A. in the center.
In June of this year, the account posted in German: “In my experience, the German police are the real drivers of Islamism in Germany. My experience is 7 years of police, most recently in March 2024, using dirty tactics against me and other critics of Islam to destroy our anti-Islam activism. The left is crazy. We need AfD to protect the police from them.”
An X user told Welt that she had reported posts by Taleb A. to the platform months ago, after which the posts were deleted. In a chat with another user, a possible attack plan by the Saudi was discussed. She did not go to the police, she told Welt, but it was “clear” that “he was becoming radicalized.”
In a tweet from December 2023 the user Taleb A. claimed that the German state was persecuting Saudi Arabian refugees to destroy their lives. He promised retaliation, writing: “I assure you that 100 percent revenge will come soon. Even if it costs me my life.” And continued: “Germany will have to pay the price. A huge price.” The post was subsequently deleted but the X user Welt spoke to saved a copy.
In May 2024, Taleb A. posted on X in English: “I seriously expect to die this year. Reason: I will ensure justice at any cost. And the German authorities are blocking all peaceful paths to justice.” At the time, he wrote in Arabic about the “implementation” of an “operation.”
In August 2024, he posted in Arabic:
I assure you: If Germany wants war, we will have it. If Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die or go to prison with pride. Because we have exhausted all peaceful means, we have only encountered more crimes by the police, state security, the public prosecutor’s office, the judiciary and the interior ministry. Peace does them no good.
The attack
An initial report from the Magdeburg police on Friday evening said “extensive police operations” were taking place at the market, and that “The Christmas market in the city center is closed.”
The perpetrator drove a dark BMW “at least 400 meters across the Christmas market” into the crowd, Bild reported.
German t-online reported an eyewitness describing how the perpetrator drove into the fairy-tale section of the Christmas market, where many families were gathered. She and her child narrowly managed to jump out of the way. A man running a hamburger stand said the driver sped right past him and described the scene as resembling “war-like conditions.”
Other eyewitnesses reported to Volksstimme that the driver swerved in a zigzag pattern across the entire market area, seemingly aiming to hit as many visitors as possible. When he attempted to turn around, he was intercepted and arrested by police officers.
Welt reports the man had rented the car, and that a piece of luggage was found on the passenger seat. Authorities eventually ruled out the presence of an explosive device in the car, and after investigating, ruled out a second driver and accomplices. MDR, quoting security circles, says the suspect arrested was not previously known to the German authorities as an Islamist.
One poster on X shared a video of police blocking off the area around the market and, referencing the tech billionaire’s endorsement of Alternative für Deutschland—widely condemned by establishment politicians—said, “How Elon Musk was right again. #Magdeburg”
Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister, Reiner Haseloff (CDU), expressed his shock, saying, “This is a terrible event, especially so close to Christmas.” He intends to see the situation first-hand and said he was on his way to Magdeburg.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X, “”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 during these anxious hours.”
AfD’s Alice Weidel also extended her thoughts to the bereaved and the injured, asking “When will this madness end?”
Friday’s vehicle assault bears a striking resemblance to the terrorist attack on the Christmas market at Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz in 2016, when an Islamist extremist hijacked a truck and drove it into the crowded market, killing 13 people and injuring 70 others. The Berlin attacker subsequently fled to Italy, where he was shot and killed by police.
Magdeburg, a city of about 240,000, is located in Saxony-Anhalt, about half-way between Berlin and Hanover.
Original article: The European Conservative
