SUV against a Christmas market in Magdeburg. Five dead and 40 seriously injured. Mattarella: "Italy close to the German people"

It’s from five dead and over 205 injured, of which, however, about forty are in serious conditions, the official toll of‘attack in Germany against a Christmas market in Magdeburg, in the land of Sannonia-Anhalt. A nine year old boy is among the victims of the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg. This was stated by an official from the city of Magdeburg, Ronni Krug, who added that he had no further information on the adults killed.

Local news site Volksstimme describes the dynamics of the attack: a black BMW SUV he turned in the direction of the Alter Markt, broke through the security barriers and hit several visitors to the market.Taleb A., a Saudi doctorA 50-year-old man who was driving the vehicle “under the influence of drugs” was arrested. It is referred to as sympathizer of the German far-right party Afd. According to the weekly Der Spiegel, the man was recognized as a refugee in July 2016 because he had been threatened with death for having renounced Islam.

Witnesses described reckless driving, zigzagging, across the entire market area – police say it was at least 400 meters – apparently to run over as many people as possible. When he attempted to turn around, the man driving was stopped by police officers and arrested.

Magdeburg, a city of around 250 thousand inhabitants, is the capital of the land of Saxony-Anhalt. Several searches were carried out in Bernburg during the night. This was reported by the German news site Mdr, citing a spokesperson for the local police. According to the Interior Minister of the Land Sachsen-Anhalt, Tamara Zieschang, the arrested suspect lived in the town in the Salzland district. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) are expected in Magdeburg in the late morning. In the evening there will be a commemoration in Magdeburg Cathedral, announced Mayor Simone Borris.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently called on the population to monitor the Christmas markets, without mentioning any concrete threats. Intelligence services called them an “ideologically appropriate target for radical Islamism”. Berlin was the scene of a bloody Christmas market truck attack in December 2016, claimed by Islamic State.

In recent months, several Islamic attacks have shocked the country. At the end of August, a knife attack committed by a Syrian and claimed by ISIS left three people dead and several injured during a party in Solingen. In June, another knife attack, attributed to an Afghan and carried out during an anti-Islam demonstration in Mannheim, resulted in the death of a police officer. In September, a 27-year-old Syrian suspected of links to radical Islam was arrested for planning a machete attack on German soldiers in a Bavarian town.

The bomber

A video shows the black SUV stopping and the man driving exiting the vehicle, raising his hands and lying on the ground, surrounded by officers pointing their weapons at him. According to Der Spiegel, Taleb has been an activist for women’s rights for years, in particular advising women from Saudi Arabia on how to escape their country and running a website with information on the German asylum system. In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper in 2019, he said he had been contacted by Saudi women asking for protection “because they had been raped by their male guardian”. The German asylum system, she said, was “a way for women to achieve freedom.”

Over time, however, he seems to have distanced himself from his activism. In November he posted four “demands from the liberal Saudi opposition” on his X account, the first of which was: “Germany must protect its borders from illegal immigration.” And again: “it has been demonstrated that the politics of open borders was Merkel’s plan pto Islamize Europe,” he wrote in reference to the former German chancellor. In other posts, he openly sympathized with the AfD and dreamed of a joint project with the party: an academy for ex-Muslims. “Who else is fighting the ‘Islam in Germany?’ he asked.

The arrested suspect was apparently a fan of Elon Musk, US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and British right-wing activist Tommy Robinson. “If you listen to someone like Tommy Robinson or even Elon Musk… If you hear anything about Islamization, you’ll think, ‘These two are conspiracy theorists.’ But I can say from experience that anything Robinson, Musk, Alex Jones, or anyone portrayed by mainstream media as a radical or right-wing extremist says is telling the truth,” Taleb wrote in a tweet.

Police findings

German police cannot yet provide any information on the motive for the attack. The event “cannot yet be definitively classified”, said a spokesperson for the police force, quoted by the German media, specifying that “the background is not yet known, we are taking everything into account”.No explosive device was found in the car. This was also reported by the local police, quoted by the German media. Due to a suspicious piece of luggage on the passenger seat, the area around the car had been cordoned off in fear of explosives.

The condolences of the authorities

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanked the emergency services. “The wait for a peaceful Christmas was suddenly interrupted by news from Magdeburg“, he said. “Not all the background to the terrible act has yet been clarified. My thoughts go out to the victims and their families. I would like to thank all the rescuers for their efforts,” he underlined.

Mattarella: “Italy close to the German people”

“In this dramatic circumstance, the Italian Republic is close to the German people with convinced and sincere participation. In this spirit, I wish to convey to the families of the victims the expressions of our most sincere condolences. We wish the many injured a speedy and complete recovery”. This can be read in the message sent to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, by the head of state, Sergio Mattarella, after the attack on the Christmas markets in Magdeburg.

Security will be strengthened at Christmas markets

Implement “info-investigative activities” and “vigilance and control” activities in Christmas markets, Christmas-themed villages and main tourist areas. This is what is stated in the circular sent to prefects and police commissioners by the department of public security in the aftermath of the Magdeburg massacre.
A previous circular, dated 10 December, had already ordered a strengthening of vigilance with particular reference to the holidays and the start of the Jubilee and the opening of the Holy Door: all at a particularly delicate moment due to the concomitance with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .

Maximum vigilance, therefore, on ports, airports, stations, soft targets in general, and naturally religious targets, especially Jewish ones.
Both circulars recommend modulating services taking due account of “territorial specificities”.

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