BERLIN: The suspect in a deadly car ramming attack on a German Christmas market was mentally unwell, “massively Islamophobic and close to right-wing extremist ideologies,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Thursday.
His erratic behavior over the years had come to the attention of law enforcement on at least 105 occasions without triggering a response, Faeser added.
The figure, compiled after the December 20 attack, showed the need for “better data management by the federal and state security authorities,” Faeser said.
“Police data must be centrally and securely bundled” to identify threats, she told journalists at an event to commemorate the victims in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
The suspect, 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, who lived in Germany, was arrested at the scene of the ramming, which left six people dead and over 200 wounded.
Investigators had pieced together the profile of a perpetrator who suffered “psychological issues” and was “influenced by incoherent conspiracy theories,” Faeser said.
The suspect was “massively Islamophobic and close to right-wing extremist ideologies,” she added, and “His hatred is directed against both the German state and against individuals.”
A large amount of information on the suspect had been available before the attack, including a slew of social media posts, Faeser said.
However, “no one had all of the facts,” she said.
The lack of oversight was among the factors that kept authorities from intervening early to stop the attack, she said.
As well as centralising data from different federal and regional authorities, “large amounts of data must also be able to be analyzed using AI” in future, she said.
“We also need new, more precise criteria and action plans to assess the danger posed by people who do not fit the existing mold.”
The attack in Magdeburg came almost eight years to the day after another at a Christmas market in 2016, when a lorry plowed into a crowd in Berlin.
The previous attack, which left 13 people dead, was carried out by an extremist Tunisian and claimed by Daesh.
German Christmas market attack suspect held ‘anti-Islam, far-right’ views
https://arab.news/8z472
German Christmas market attack suspect held ‘anti-Islam, far-right’ views
- Suspect was “massively Islamophobic and close to right-wing extremist ideologies,” German interior minister said
- Lack of oversight was among factors that kept authorities from intervening early to stop the attack, she said
Afghanistan says it has released 3 Pakistani soldiers captured during October cross-border fighting
- Tension between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan has been high since deadly border clashes in October killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants, and wounded hundreds more on both sides
KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghanistan has released three Pakistani soldiers who it had captured during cross-border fighting last October, its government spokesman said Tuesday.
Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement the three, who had been captured during fighting on Oct. 12, were turned over to a Saudi delegation that mediated between the two sides and had traveled to Kabul on Monday. He said the release was decided upon in light of the start of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and reflection.
Tension between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan has been high since deadly border clashes in October killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants, and wounded hundreds more on both sides. The violence erupted after explosions in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Oct. 9 that the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan and vowed to avenge.
The fighting was the worst between the neighbors in recent years. A ceasefire mediated by Qatar has since eased tension, although subsequent peace talks in Istanbul failed to produce a definitive agreement and relations remain strained.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the release of the three soldiers.
