What we know about the suspect behind the German Christmas market attack – National

Germany was still in shock on Saturday and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.

Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has lived in Germany for two decades. He was arrested at the site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market with holiday shoppers on Friday night, killing at least five people and injuring about 200 others.

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had yet to encounter a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.

Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulations to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

He was critical of the German authorities, saying they were not doing enough to fight the “Islamism of Europe”.

He has also expressed support for the far-right and anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have targeted Saudi asylum seekers.

Neumann, the terrorist expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim living in East Germany loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance of Islamists – that really wasn’t on my radar.

On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters: “At this point we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was apparently Islamophobic – we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation and we have to wait.”

A German organization called Athiest Refugee Relief said the suspected attacker was not part of the group and claimed he made “numerous accusations and claims” against it and former board members, which it said were false.

“We distance ourselves in the strongest terms from him,” the group said in a statement on its website, adding that members of Atheist Refugee Relief filed a criminal complaint against him in 2019 after “the most vicious defamation and verbal attacks.”

& copy 2024 The Canadian Press