The death toll in the car accident at a Christmas market in Magdeburg (eastern Germany) has risen to five, reported the First German Television Network (ARD) according to information from security circles. The number of injured, according to the same source, would already reach 20041 of them in very serious condition.
The motives for the crime: Islamophobic motivation?
There is still no clarity on the motives for the crime but from what is known of the person responsible for it, Saudi doctor Taleb Aan Islamist motivation seems to be ruled out and German media even point to an Islamophobic motivation.
The life of Dr. Taleb A, as shown in media such as the magazine “Der Spiegel” or the newspaper “Frankfurter Rundchau”, goes through the abandonment of the Muslim faithactivism for Saudi women and leads to open sympathies for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and theories about an alleged plan to Islamize the Euro Cup, concocted according to him by former chancellor Angela Merkel.
Taleb A came to Germany in 2006 as a student and He received asylum in July 2016 after receiving death threats for turning away from Islam.. He lived and worked as a psychiatrist in Bernburg, a small town of 32,000 inhabitants on the banks of the Saale River between Magdeburg and Halle.
As an activist, she informed and advised Saudi women about the possibilities of fleeing their country. and had a website with information about the German asylum system.
In an interview he gave in 2009 to the newspaper “Frankfurter Rundschau” he said that Many Saudi women came to him for protection after being raped by the man they depended on.. In that interview she said that the German asylum system was for these women a path to freedom.
Rejection of Islam and German immigration policy
From a certain moment on, the distance he had taken from Islam became an open rejection of German immigration policy. Last November he published a message on his X account with “four demands from the Saudi opposition” and said that Germany had to protect its borders from illegal migration.
He then accused Merkel of having had a plan to Islamize Europe. with its open border policy. In other social media messages he showed open sympathy for the AfD because he said it was the only party that fought Islam in Germany. Taleb A wanted to found an academy for ex-Muslims in Germany together with the AfD, according to “Der Spiegel”
Just a week ago, an interview of his was broadcast through an Islamophobic blog in the US in which he maintained that the German state had a secret operation to hunt down ex-Saudi Muslims around the world and at the same time granted asylum to Syrian jihadists. In another message from X, later deleted, he announced revenge, according to the newspaper “Die Welt.”
In recent weeks, according to the local newspaper “Magdeburger Zeitung”, Taleb A had missed work due to medical leave.
An attack without accomplices
Tamara Zieschang, the Minister of the Interior of Saxony Anhalt, assured that the Saudi acted alone and lived in Bernburgabout 50 kilometers from Magdeburg.
According to the newspaper ‘BILD’, heavily armed forces forcibly entered a house on a street in the city, but at the moment it is unknown if the operation was related to the attack.
Shortly after 18:00 GMT The man charged into the crowd and traveled a stretch of at least 400 meters at the Christmas market in a rental vehicle with a Munich license plate.
Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler told the second public television channel ZDF that the fact that a car attack was successful points to a failure in the security concept.
Questions about lack of security
It is unknown how the man was able to enter the Christmas marketright in the center and next to the City Hall, given that German cities have reinforced the security of these places with bollards after the attack in Berlin on December 19, 2016, in which 13 people died after being run over by a truck.
“That there has been this attack eight years after the attack on the Berlin Christmas market appears to be intentional,” Haseloff said at a later press conference.
The mayor of Magdeburg, Simone Borris, could not hold back her tears and thanked the security forces and first responders for their work.
announced a service in memory of the victims this Saturday afternoon in the city cathedral and expressed his hope that citizens will be able to live together in a good way again after what will be a “long phase of mourning.”
The chancellor will travel to Magdeburg
Haseloff indicated that the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, called him by phone and announced that he would travel to Magdeburg this Saturday to assess the situation and discuss necessary measuresand added that possibly the State Attorney General’s Office will also take pertinent actions “in view of the seriousness of this attack.”
Scholz indicated on his X social network account that His thoughts are with the victims and their families..
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement that “the hope for a peaceful Christmas party has been interrupted by the news from Magdeburg”while Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who will travel to the city with Scholz on Saturday, said she was “shocked” by the attack.
“Security forces will clarify the background”promised the social democrat.
