Death toll from Magdeburg Christmas market attack rises to six

A woman has died from injuries sustained after a man rammed a car into a German Christmas market last month, bringing the total number of deaths from the attack to six.

A 52-year-old man died in hospital two weeks after his car plowed into a packed market in Magdeburg, prosecutors said.

At least 299 people were injured in the attack on December 20, according to the latest figures from Saxony-Anhalt’s interior ministry.

Four other women aged 45 to 75 and nine andre gleisner were also killed.

Federal Victims’ Commissioner Roland Weber told German media that at least 531 people may have been traumatized or suffered economic losses as a result of the attack.

Fifty-year-old Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was arrested at the scene, but the motives of the suspected attacker remain unclear.

He has been living in Germany since 2006 and is described as a Saudi psychiatrist who was living in the city of Bernburg, about 50 km (30 mi) south of Magdeburg.

Abdulmohsin was granted asylum in 2016 and runs a website aimed at helping other former Muslims escape persecution in their Gulf homeland.

In several online posts, Abdulmohsen voiced strong support for anti-Islamic views and far-right conspiracy narratives over the “Islamization” of Europe.

German Interior Minister Nancy Feser said it was “clear to see” that the suspect held “Islamophobic” views.

He said, “The criminal does not fit any previous classification. Every stone will be turned over here.”

Abdulmohsin has been ordered to be held in pre-trial detention on charges of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.

Police believe he acted alone, but German authorities believe facing questions What they knew about security and about the suspect accused of using the access lane to take emergency vehicles to the market.

They are also raising questions after reports they were warned about the suspect last year, with police saying they had assessed a year earlier whether he might be a threat.

A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC that it had sent four official notifications, known as “Notes Verbale”, to German authorities, warning them of what they said were Abdulmohsin’s “very extreme views”. .

However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that the Saudis were probably running a disinformation campaign to discredit someone who had tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.