The Saudi doctor who killed five people by ploughing his BMW into a Christmas market vowed to slaughter ’20 Germans’ last year.
German authorities were made aware of concerns about Dr. Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen’s behavior in September of last year. However, all they did was capture screenshots of the disturbing online messages he had posted.
The 50-year-old psychiatrist drove his SUV into a crowded market in Magdeburg on a Friday night. This tragic incident resulted in the deaths of a nine-year-old boy and four adults, with over 200 people sustaining injuries, 40 of them being in critical condition.
Footage showed scenes of horror with the car cutting through families who barely had time to turn their heads.
A woman had reported an online threat made by Al-Abdulmohsen in Arabic to the Berlin police and German migration authorities. Unfortunately, no action was taken. She expressed her frustration by stating that he had openly threatened the lives of Germans, and if the authorities had acted upon the warning, the devastating events could have been prevented.
Al-Abdulmohsen had bypassed security bollards and used an emergency corridor – which should have been blocked for anything other than ambulances and police vehicles – to enter the market.
He launched his attack just after 7pm local time in Germany, as thousands of shoppers gathered at the centre of Magdeburg.
Driving slowly at first, the blue SUV turned in to an alleyway where hundreds of shoppers were browsing stalls and sipping mulled wine.
A police vehicle is stationed at the scene of a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market on December 21
Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A (pictured), and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy
Pictured: Taleb A the alleged car-ramming perpetrator that killed 5 and injured more than 200 in an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany
Firefighters patrol the scene of the crash on Friday after a car rammed into a massive crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in Magdeburg at around 7pm
The Christmas market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, is empty on Saturday evening
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day
Debris and empty stalls are seen on a closed Christmas market one day after a car-ramming attack in Magdeburg
He then pointed his vehicle directly at the crowd and ploughed forward. As shoppers fled in panic, the driver turned another corner and drove out of the market. An off-duty policeman pursued the BMW until he came to a halt outside Magdeburg shopping centre, where he was arrested at gunpoint by armed officers.
As the five deaths were confirmed in a sombre press conference last night, details emerged of the youngest victim, who was nine, and was out shopping with his mother.
Last night, his mother, posted a poignant message for her son. She said: ‘Let my little teddy bear fly around the world again… [my son] hadn’t done anything to anyone… he was only with us on Earth for nine years… why you… why?’
The boy was a member of the local youth fire brigade club. It posted: ‘We are particularly saddened by the loss of such a young life from our own ranks.’
As Germany grieved last night, anger was also boiling up, with signs that troublesome days lie ahead. More than 1,000 far-Right thugs descended on Magdeburg to protest against the attack, with anger visible on their faces.
Although no violence broke out, there were fears that more such protests lay ahead.
As Al-Abdulmohsen was being questioned, it was revealed that he was on drugs during the attack, but police did not give more details. Authorities said that his mental and physical states were being examined.
The prosecutor said that the medic’s grievance about how Germany was treating Saudi dissident asylum seekers was part of the investigation as a possible motive.
Police officers secure the area during the German Chancellor’s visit to the scene of a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg
People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg
Although his Saudi background and a vehicle attack on a Christian event had all the signs of an Islamist terror attack, Al-Abdulmohsen’s background has shown that it was ‘unusual and contradictory’.
Peter Neumann, professor of security studies at King’s College, London, said: ‘He is against Islam, he supports [the Right-wing] AfD party, he is not an Isis supporter, but he did an attack like an Isis terrorist. So it is a bit of a cliché to say it, but this all may suggest mental health issues.’
There were also claims made on social media that the Saudis had warned the German authorities at least three times about Al-Abdulmohsen, but were ignored.
But Professor Neumann said that the claims could be part of a Saudi disinformation campaign, as Al-Abdulmohsen was a staunch critic of the country’s rulers.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited the site of the attack, said that he was ‘very worried for the 40’ said to be critically ill.
There were also questions as to how another attack on a Christmas market was allowed to happen, eight years after the atrocity at the Breitscheidplatz market in Berlin, which left 13 dead and 70 injured. Experts were also dismayed at how police and intelligence services missed warning signs.
Al-Abdulmohsen was a high-profile Saudi ex-Muslim who openly made his threats on social media where he endorsed far-Right leaders such as Britain’s Tommy Robinson. His warning of a killing spree last year followed a dispute with a German refuge for atheist asylum seekers. He claimed staff there sexually assaulted a number of Saudi women.
In a tweet he said: ‘Would you blame me if I randomly killed 20 Germans because of what Germany is doing against the Saudis?’
Plush toys, candles and floral tributes lie near the site where a car drove into a crowd at a Magdeburg Christmas market
And in August this year, he posted in Arabic: ‘I assure you that if Germany wants a war, we will fight it. If Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die, or go to prison with pride.
‘Because we have exhausted all peaceful means and all we have received from the police, state security, the prosecution, the judiciary, and the Ministry of the Interior is more crimes against us. Peace is of no use with them.’
He also accused the country of allowing too many Syrian terrorists to enter the country.
He tweeted: ‘Germany’s goal has become clear: to spread Islam in Europe. They are attacking political movements critical of Islam by infiltrating them with corrupt people, including addicts, prostitutes, and thieves, in order to corrupt the movement from within.’
