Magdeburg christmas market attack deaths rise to six
2025-01-06
Category: news

A woman has died from injuries sustained after a man drove a car into a German Christmas market last month, bringing the total death toll from the attack to six.The 52-year-old died in hospital two weeks after the car ploughed into the packed market in Magdeburg, prosecutors said.At least 299 people were injured in the attack on 20 December, according to the latest figures from the interior ministry of Saxony-Anhalt.Four other women aged 45 to 75, and nine-year-old André Gleissner were also killed.
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The Federal Victims' Commissioner Roland Weber told German media that as many as 531 people may have been traumatised or suffered economic losses as a result of the attack.Fifty-year-old Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was arrested at the scene, but the suspected attacker's motives remain unclear.He has lived in Germany since 2006 and is described as a Saudi psychiatrist who was living about 50km (30 miles) south of Magdeburg, in the town of Bernburg.Abdulmohsen was granted asylum in 2016 and ran a website that aimed to help other former Muslims flee persecution in their Gulf homelands.In many online posts Abdulmohsen voiced strongly anti-Islam views and support for far-right conspiracy narratives on the "Islamisation" of Europe.German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said it was "clear to see" the suspect held "Islamophobic" views."The perpetrator does not fit into any previous categorisation. Every stone will be turned over here," she said.Abdulmohsen has been ordered into pre-trial detention on counts of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.Police believe he acted alone, but German authorities are facing questions about security and what they knew about the suspect accused of using an access lane for emergency vehicles to drive into the market.They are also fielding questions after reports they were warned last year about the suspect, with police saying they had evaluated whether he might be a threat a year ago.A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC it had sent four official notifications known as "Notes Verbal" to German authorities, warning them about what they said were "the very extreme views" held by Abdulmohsen.However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC the Saudis may have been mounting a disinformation campaign to discredit someone who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.