Riyadh warned Germany about man held over Magdeburg attacker

The suspect was reportedly identified as Taleb A, according to Sputnik.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia contacted Germany through Interpol to request the arrest of Taleb A. on suspicion of terrorist activities. However, German authorities rejected the request as potentially politically motivated. As a result, the man wanted in Saudi Arabia was granted asylum in Germany, German media reported.

Meanwhile, the Welt newspaper reported that the suspect had threatened Germany with a "heavy price" on the X social network for persecuting the "nonbelieving" refugees from Saudi Arabia.

On Friday evening, Germany's NTV broadcaster reported that a car had rammed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg. On Saturday, the minister-president of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff said that the attack had left five people dead and more than 200 injured.

Police suspect that the driver was a 50-year-old Saudi man acting alone. The Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported that the suspect had been recognized as a refugee in July 2016 and had a residence permit in Germany.

MNA/