Christmas market attack: German authorities under fire over suspect’s history of threats
German officials faced mounting criticism on Sunday over the failure to prevent a deadly Christmas market attack in Magdeburg as it emerged that the 50-year-old suspect had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities.
The German government faced growing questions Sunday about whether more could have been done to prevent the Christmas market car-ramming attack that killed five people and injured over 200.
The Saudi suspect, 50-year-old psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities.
News magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany's spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a "price" for its treatment of Saudi refugees.
And in August Abdulmohsen wrote on social media: "Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens?... If anyone knows it, please let me know."
Die Welt daily reported, also citing security sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a "risk assessment" on Abdulmohsen last year but concluded that he posed "no specific danger".
He said it was important "that we stick together, that we link arms, that it is not hatred that determines our coexistence but the fact that we are a community that seeks a common future".
(AFP)
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