Germany Christmas market attack latest: Tributes to 9-year-old amid concerns over security and intelligence lapse

As the German city of Magdeburg mourns the loss of people killed in an attack on a Christmas market, anger is growing over security concerns and previous warnings given to authorities about the suspect.

A least five people – including a nine-year-old boy – have died so far, with a further 200 injured, 41 of whom are in critical condition.

Minutes after a car was rammed into the bustling market, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia named by German media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was arrested. On Saturday evening, he was remanded into custody after appearing in court, police said.

Local media reported he had shown support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), with a Saudi source telling Reuters that the kingdom had warned German authorities about the suspect, who the source said had posted extremist views on his personal X account.

German ambassador to the UK Miguel Berger told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme on Sunday: “The question is, ‘Does X really act against these things?’”

In the days since his arrest, a 2019 BBC video featuring the Magdeburg attack suspect has resurfaced.

In the interview, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen is seen discussing a website he designed to help ex-Muslims flee the Gulf region.

In a heartbreaking social media post, the mother of nine-year-old Andre Gleissner paid tribute to her “little teddy bear” following the incident on Friday night.

Desiree Gleissner wrote on Facebook: “Let my little teddy bear fly around the world again. Andre didn’t do anything to anybody. He was only with us on earth for nine years. Why you? Just why?”

German authorities received a warning last year about the suspect in a car attack at a Christmas market which killed five people, officials have said.

The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said on social media site X on Sunday it received a tip in late summer 2023.

The said: “This was taken seriously, like every other of the numerous tips.”

The office highlighted it is not an investigative office and said it referred the information to the relevant authorities, following procedure in such cases.

It gave no other details about the suspect or the nature of the warnings.

Italian authorities have urged police stations across the country to increase security at Christmas markets following the deadly attack in the German city of Magdeburg.

The letter sent to the police calls for the “immediate strengthening” of security in areas “that are most attractive from a touristic and commercial standpoint”.

The suspect in the German Christmas market shooting has been charged with murder and attempted murder, according to reports.

Authorities have identified the suspect as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.

He remains in custody as authorities investigate him.

Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world.

In Berlin alone, more than 100 markets opened late last month and brought the smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital.

Other markets abound across the country.

Andrea Reis, who had been at the market on Friday, returned on Saturday with her daughter Julia to lay a candle by the church overlooking the site. She said that had it not been for a matter of moments, they may have been in the car’s path.

“I said, ‘let’s go and get a sausage’, but my daughter said ‘no let’s keep walking around’. If we’d stayed where we were we’d have been in the car’s path,” she said.

Tears ran down her face as she described the scene. “Children screaming, crying for mama. You can’t forget that,” she said.

One of the UK’s biggest Christmas markets said it has reviewed its security processes in the wake of the attack on a German Christmas market which left five people dead and more than 200 injured.

Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market’s security processes were reviewed and discussed with a police security adviser after a BMW ploughed into customers at the busy festive market in Magdeburg on Friday evening.

It said no changes are required and all staff remain vigilant.