CNN
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A driver who rammed a car into a crowded Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, killing at least five people and injuring more than 200, has been identified by authorities as a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen who had lived in Germany for more than a decade and worked as a doctor.
Authorities are working to establish the motive of the suspect, named by a US activist group as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, who had a history of making anti-Islam statements and said that he had helped people, particularly women, flee Saudi Arabia.
The chief of the Magdeburg Public Prosecutor’s office, Horst Walter Nopens, said that while his office needed more time to determine the motive, the suspect may have been unhappy with Germany’s treatment of Saudi refugees.
Nopens suggested the alleged attacker could face five counts of murder charges and 205 counts of attempted murder charges.
The suspect first came to Germany in 2006 and had permanent residency in the country, according to Tamara Zieschang, the interior minister of Saxony-Anhalt state, of which Magdenburg is the capital. Zieschang said the man worked as a doctor in Bernburg, a small town about 25 miles south of Magdeburg.
Reuters news agency released an image of the suspect, which was sourced from US-based activist group RAIR Foundation USA.
RAIR Foundation USA said in a statement shared by Reuters that they conducted an interview with al-Abdulmohsen on December 12, in which he had presented himself as someone assisting “ex-Muslim refugees fleeing persecution from Saudi Arabia.”
German media named the suspect as Taleb A., following the convention in Germany of withholding the full name of suspects in criminal cases. When asked by a journalist if “Taleb” is the correct name during a press conference on Saturday, Nopens confirmed that it was.
The suspect was arrested and is thought to have acted alone, according to German authorities.
In a now-deleted feed on X apparently belonging to the suspect, he made anti-Islam statements and self-identified as a Saudi dissident. He spoke openly about renouncing his Islamic faith, expressed sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and accused Germany of promoting the Islamization of the country.
Germany welcomed more than 1 million refugees and asylum seekers in 2015 and 2016, mostly from the Middle East. Originally praised for opening its doors, Germany has seen support wane for the policy with the rise of the anti-migrant AfD.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Nopens referred to the suspect’s possible “dissatisfaction” over the treatment of Saudi Arabian refugees in Germany, but added the office “needed more time” to determine the details.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the attack after it emerged the suspect was a Saudi national.
Saudi authorities had previously warned their German counterparts about the suspected attacker on several occasions, two sources with knowledge of the communications told CNN.
The first warning came in 2007 and was connected to concerns held by Saudi authorities that al-Abdulmohsen had expressed radical views of varying kinds, one of the sources said.
Saudi Arabia considers the suspect a fugitive and requested his extradition from Germany between 2007 and 2008, the source said, adding that German authorities refused, citing concerns for the man’s safety should he return.
A second source told CNN the Saudis alerted Germany to the individual in four official notifications. Three of the notifications, known as “Notes Verbal,” were sent to the German intelligence services and one to the country’s foreign ministry. The source said all of the warnings were ignored.
CNN reached out to the German Foreign Ministry for comment about the warnings and was referred to the Ministry of Interior, which in turn referred CNN to the public prosecutor’s office in Magdeburg. CNN has not received a response from the prosecutor’s office.
Saudi authorities alleged that the suspect had harassed Saudis abroad who opposed his political views. They also noted that he had become a supporter of the AfD, and had developed radical anti-Islamic views, the source said.
The German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Saturday described the man as “an Islamophobe.” She gave few other details and said that the investigation was at the very beginning, with security authorities looking into the background of the attack. The authorities have not yet released any information about a motive.
al-Abdulmohsen appears to be the same man who was in touch with media in the past about his efforts to help people leave Saudi Arabia.
Some experts have already pointed out that the man was an unusual suspect in a mass casualty attack of this type.
“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 towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar,” Peter Neumann, professor of security studies at King’s College London, wrote on X.