Questions mount in Germany over deadly Christmas market attack as suspect appears in court

By Edward Szekeres, Sophie Tanno, Lucas Lilieholm and Inke Kappeler, CNN

(CNN) — Authorities in Germany face growing accusations they could have done more to prevent a deadly Christmas market attack as a judge ordered the suspect to be held in pre-trial detention following a late-night court appearance on Saturday.

Taleb Al Abdulmohsen is accused of ramming a car into a busy market in the city of Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring more than 200.

The motive for the attack is unclear but the suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who has lived in Germany for more than a decade and worked to help Saudis leave his home country. On social media, he has been a fervent critic of Islam and prosecutors suggested he may have become embittered with how Germany treats Saudi refugees.

Recent messages grew increasingly threatening. One says, “if Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die, or go to prison with pride.”

“The magistrate ordered pre-trial detention for five counts of murder, several counts of attempted murder and several counts of dangerous bodily harm,” a statement from police early Sunday said.

“The accused was taken to a correctional facility accordingly.”

The police also released additional details on the victims of Friday’s attack. The dead include a nine-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, according to the statement.

On Sunday, the nine-year-old boy’s mother said her son “didn’t do anything to anybody,” in a Facebook post. “He was only nine years with us on earth… just why, I don’t understand.”

The attack has been met with confusion and anger from the public and politicians, with questions raised over potential security lapses just two months before federal elections where immigration is likely to be a flashpoint issue.

Germany stepped up security at Christmas markets – a fixture of the festive season – following a deadly car ramming in Berlin in 2016.

But Magdeburg police chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said Saturday that the attacker was able to gain access to the market using emergency exit points, usually reserved for ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

At the same conference, city official Ronni Krug insisted the security concept for the Magdeburg Christmas market was “constantly being revised and modified.”

Krug continued, “How this case could come about must first be investigated by the police. I will not indulge in speculation. But you can rest assured that we will continue to update the security concept, which we are constantly updating anyway, once we have reached an assessment with our colleagues from the police.”

Saudi warnings

Saudi authorities had previously warned their German counterparts about the suspected attacker, on several occasions, two sources with knowledge of the communications told CNN.

CNN reached out to the German Foreign Ministry for comment about the warnings and was referred to the Ministry of Interior, which in turn referred CNN to the public prosecutor’s office in Magdeburg. CNN has not received a response from the prosecutor’s office.

But speaking to German public broadcaster ZDF, Holger Münch, the president of Germany’s federal criminal office confirmed, “We ourselves were once the recipient of a tip-off from Saudi Arabia in November 2023.”

He continued that proceedings were initiated and Saxony-Anhalt police took “appropriate investigative measures,” however the information they had on Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was too “unspecific” and he was “not known for violent acts.”

German politicians from opposite ends of the political spectrum have seized on Friday’s deadly attack to attack the coalition government.

Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance party, called for Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to explain “why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand.”

Bernd Baumann, the parliamentary head of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), demanded a special parliamentary session be called to discuss security issues in a post on X.

In a signal of the tensions that have been stirred up in the wake of the attack, far-right protesters took to the streets of Magdeburg on Saturday evening. Some clad in balaclavas, they waved a sign saying “remigration” – a term calling for the mass deportation of immigrants.

Saturday’s demonstration was attended by over 2,000 people, police said.

The anti-immigrant AfD is holding a rally on Monday followed by a march mourning the victims.

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CNN’s Ivana Kottasová and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.