What did the German police know about Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, the alleged perpetrator of the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market on Friday, December 20? Why hadn’t the intelligence services identified him as potentially dangerous? Two days after the tragedy, which left five people dead, including a 9-year-old child, and more than 200 injured at a Christmas market in the capital of the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the authorities came under heavy criticism.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has promised an investigation into why law enforcement agencies failed to act on information passed to them over the years about the 50-year-old Saudi-born psychiatrist, who has lived in Germany since 2006. Next Monday, the minister and other high-ranking officials will be heard by the Bundestag’s Committee on Home Affairs, demonstrating the pressure being exerted by MPs on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, two months ahead of early elections at the end of February.
Immediately after the attack, the authorities clarified that he had not been identified as an extremist by the intelligence services. But it soon became apparent that the suspect was active on X, presenting himself as an anti-Islam activist, an atheist, but also extremely critical of Germany, who he accused of seeking to “Islamicize Europe.” His messages showed that he had links with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, whose positions on immigration he shared.
You have 74.85% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.