Attack in Magdeburg: At least two dead – suspect had announced the attack months ago

A driver drove into a group of people at the Christmas market in Magdeburg. The suspected perpetrator is in police custody.

The suspect is a doctor from Saudi Arabia who has been living in Germany since 2006 and lives in Bernburg, south of Magdeburg. According to information from WELT, a police operation took place there late on Friday evening. According to current knowledge, the man is a lone perpetrator. He is known as an anti-Islamist activist and helped other regime opponents leave the country. Especially in 2019, he appeared in several media outlets from FAZ to BBC to promote his mission for human rights in Saudi Arabia.

According to now-deleted postings on X, which are available to WELT, he had already announced an act of violence in May. Apparently he had become increasingly sold on the idea that the German security authorities were promoting Islamism. He called for the German borders to be closed to Islamists and campaigned for the AfD. His posts read increasingly confusing. Users reported him to X, and some of his posts were deleted.

These postings said that he wanted to take revenge and launch a “louder voice” campaign. He might die in the process. Germany will pay a very high price. He announced the code word “Socrates” for his action, which he actually posted shortly before the crime.

In a video on X, which he apparently published immediately after the crime, he said that he held the German nation responsible for the killing of Socrates. From the context it is clear that he obviously means the European spirit, which goes back to Greek civilization.

He reports that he filed a criminal complaint against other Saudi activists with the Cologne police in 2023, but the police rejected it. The officers accused him of being confused, he claims in the post.

He also claims police stole a USB stick containing evidence from a letter in his mailbox. Therefore, German citizens are responsible if he is convicted. The narrative seems disjointed. He also makes equally confusing accusations against asylum NGOs that wanted to prevent the activism of ex-Muslims.

According to investigators, the man had rented a BMW before the crime and drove 400 meters into the Christmas market. There was a piece of luggage on the passenger seat. However, no explosive device was found in the vehicle.

A video showing an arrest on Ernst-Reuter-Allee near the crime scene shows a man lying on his stomach on the ground. Several police officers approach him with guns drawn. Apparently they assume that he could be carrying explosives. “Careful, don’t get too close,” one of the police officers can be heard saying.

According to Prime Minister Haseloff, at least two people died, an adult and a small child. There are at least 60 injured. The city administration spoke of 15 seriously injured, 37 moderately injured and 16 slightly injured.

Shortly after the crime, the head of the Christmas market called for people to leave the city center. The police cordoned off the city center and pedestrians were asked by megaphone to leave the area. According to “Bild”, the police searched the cordoned off area of ​​the Christmas market for explosives.

The Christmas market was swarming with ambulances and paramedics. Injured people were treated at a large Christmas pyramid. According to the MDR, all hospitals in Halle an der Saale, around 80 kilometers away, were preparing to receive the injured. All rescue helicopters in the greater Halle area flew towards Magdeburg.

The Christmas market is located on the Old Market, right next to the Magdeburg town hall near the Elbe. An eyewitness told the “Volksstimme” that the perpetrator had driven to the fairytale area of ​​the Christmas market, where many families were visiting. She was just able to jump to the side with her child.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has recently repeatedly called for vigilance when visiting Christmas markets. There are currently no concrete indications of danger, said the SPD politician at the end of November. “But given the high level of threat in the abstract, we still have reason to be very vigilant and take consistent action to ensure our security.”

The act is reminiscent of the terrorist attack on the Christmas market on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz, which only celebrated its eighth anniversary on Thursday. On December 19, 2016, an Islamist terrorist hijacked a truck and drove into the Christmas market. A total of 13 people died as a result of the crime, one of them as a result years later. More than 70 people were injured, some of them seriously. The assassin fled to Italy, where he was shot dead by the police.