Attack on a Christmas market in Germany: Saudi doctor, “mysterious” motives, opinions… what do we know about the suspect ?

The day after the alleged car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Germany, the profile of the suspect arrested is intriguing.

On December 20, 2024, a car plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing two people, including a child, and injuring 68, according to a provisional report.

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He would have “acted alone”

“At the current stage of the investigation it is not yet possible to categorise what happened at the Christmas market” this Friday, local police said.

A suspect of Saudi origin was arrested in a BMW rented before the incident, reports the German daily Die Welt. He is said to have “acted alone”, according to Reiner Haseloff, the Minister President of the Saxony-Anhalt region.

He is a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia who has been living in Germany since 2006. He worked in the Saxony-Anhalt region, of which Magdeburg, 160 kilometres from Berlin, is the regional capital.

“An Islamist background seems to be ruled out”

Presented in the media as Taleb A., the man had a permanent residence permit. He was known in the Saudi emigrant community and helped asylum seekers, especially women, reports TF1.

His motives remain unclear because he was not known to the police as an Islamist and, according to German media, had even published opinions on social networks denouncing the dangers of Islamization: “The motives remain mysterious, an Islamist background seems to be excluded”, specifies the weekly Der Spiegel.

According to some media, he would be rather close to the extreme right local.