The mass car accident perpetrated this Friday afternoon at a Christmas market in Magdeburg (in eastern Germany) has left a balance of at least five dead – including a child – and 205 injuredof which 41 are in serious condition.
Still motivation is unclear of the attack, whose perpetrator, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor identified as Taleb A.remains detained. Investigators are now trying to find out why he decided to ram the rental vehicle he was driving, a black BMW, at full speed into a crowd for 400 meters.
German media point to a possible Islamophobic motivationsince he sympathized on social networks with the far-right party AfD and has publicly expressed his opposition to Islam and German immigration policy in some interviews.
He arrived in that country in 2006 as a student and received asylum in July 2016 after being threatened with death for having turned away from Islam. He currently had a residence permit, and lived and worked as a psychiatrist in Bernburga small town of 32,000 inhabitants between Magdeburg and Halle.
In recent weeks, according to the local newspaper Magdeburger ZeitungTaleb A. had missed work due to medical leave.
On the other hand, his role as activist He was publicly known, as he informed and advised Saudi women about the possibilities of fleeing their country and had a website with information on the German asylum system.
In the midst of an investigation, the Magdeburg Police have asked users on social networks to send videos of what happened in the city’s Christmas market to the respective official portals provided by the authorities.
The market, as its organizers have confirmed, It will not open again this Christmaswhile the traditional markets in the capital, Berlin, as well as those in cities such as Halle or Leipzig, will remain on alert and under additional security measures. Likewise, all public buildings in Saxony-Anhalt will fly their flags at half-mast as a sign of mourning.