The German government, under fire for not preventing a fatal car attack at the Christmas market, said Monday that the tragedy would have been difficult to prevent and said yes the suspect he appeared to be mentally disturbed.
Home Secretary Nancy Faeser, along with security and intelligence chiefs, faced a parliamentary committee inquiry into the attack and whether there were missed leads and security lapses. Five people were killed and more than 200 injured in the attack on December 20 in the city of Magdeburg in the east of the country.
Faeser said a motive had not yet been determined, but “there are striking signs of a pathological psyche” in the suspect, a Saudi-born doctor who had lived in Germany for years.
She added that lessons must be learned about how to follow up potential attackers who do not fit conventional threat categories and who are “psychologically deranged and … driven by confused conspiracy theories.”
The minister asserted that “such attackers do not fit any threat profile” — such as far-right extremists or Islamists — and warned that German security services would need “other indicators and action plans” to deal with them in the future.
The suspect, named by German officials as Taleb A., was identified by BBC News and the AFP news agency as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen. He came to Germany in 2006, and received refugee status 10 years later.
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Police arrested him at the scene of an attack in which a motor vehicle was used as a weapon – a method previously used in jihadist attacks.
2016 Islamic extremist passed through a crowded Christmas market in Berlin with a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed in a shootout a few days later. the same year, claimed ISIS responsibility after another attacker killed 86 people in a truck rampage in the The French city of Nice.
Abdulmohsen, by contrast, has in the past expressed strong anti-Islam views and sympathies for the far right in his social media posts, as well as anger at Germany for allowing in too many Muslim war refugees and other asylum seekers.
Faeser said there are “tens of thousands of tweets” the suspect has posted over the years that have yet to be fully examined.
“That explains why everything is not on the table yet,” she said. “Who knew what leads and what was passed when must be carefully clarified.”
Reuters reported that he posted a clumsy comment on Xu, among other things blaming alleged German liberalism for the death of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates and accusing police of stealing his USB stick and destroying a criminal complaint he had filed.
Abdulmohsen, 50, is the sole suspect in the attack, in which a rented BMW SUV plowed through a crowd of revelers at high speed, leaving a bloody trail of carnage.
He has been remanded in custody on five counts of murder and 205 counts of attempted murder, prosecutors said, but not yet on terrorism-related charges.
The state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, described it at the time as a “lone attack”.
According to media reports citing unnamed German security sources, the suspect has been treated for mental illness in the past and tested positive for drugs on the night of his arrest. German media investigations into Abdulmohsen’s past and his social media posts found expressions of anger and frustration, and threats of violence against German citizens and politicians.
German police said they contacted Abdulmohsen in September 2023 and October 2024, then tried repeatedly but failed to meet with him again in December.
According to Reuters, Holger Muench, president of the federal criminal police office (BKA), said Abdulmohsen “made insults and even threats. But he was not known for acts of violence.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces a general election in February, told the news site T-online that officials will “examine very carefully whether there were any lapses on the part of the authorities” and whether any leads were missed in the run-up to the attack.
Saudi Arabia said it had repeatedly warned Germany about Abdulmohsen, but according to Reuters, police said they considered the allegations too vague.
Front Elections in Februarycarnage at a Christmas market has reignited a heated debate over immigration and security, following deadly knife attacks this year blamed on Islamist extremists.
After Monday’s hearing, lawmaker Konstantin Kuhle of the liberal Free Democrats said “federal and state authorities knew this perpetrator.” But Kuhle said no body had connected all the dots and “we don’t have a complete list of all contacts with the authorities to date.”
Faeser said having a more complete picture of all the data would be good, but probably “wouldn’t have prevented” the attack.
MP Gottfried Curio from the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party was the harshest in his criticism.
“Everything was predictable for everyone,” he said. “We have hundreds of dangerous people in this country, we let them hang around.
“What we need are deportations, instead we are getting naturalizations. What is needed now is a change in security policy in this country.”
