Authorities name André Gleissner as child killed in German market attack (original) (raw)

A local fire brigade has named André Gleissner as the nine-year-old boy killed in Friday's Christmas market attack in the German city of Magdeburg.

The attack on Friday also killed four women, aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and injured another 200 people.

André was named by fire department officials in the Elm-Asse region west of Magdeburg, where he was a member of the children's fire brigade.

Following the attack, a 50-year-old Saudi man, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested.

He is being held on charges of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.

He has lived in Germany since 2006 and has a social media history suggesting he supported anti-Islam and far-right parties, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the "Islamification of Europe", according to AP.

Dr Abdulmohsen allegedly drove a black BMW into the Christmas market in Magdeburg, 130 kilometres west of Berlin.

Investigators are now piecing together the suspect's motive, as well as if intelligence agencies missed any warning signs that the attack was imminent.

The Saudi government on Saturday said it had warned German officials of Dr Abdulmohsen.

A tribute has been left near the Christmas market after the attack. (Reuters: Annegret Hilse)

The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Münch, said the agency — Germany's equivalent of the FBI — received a warning from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, but that the information was unspecific.

Mr Münch said the suspect "published a huge number of posts on the internet", was in contact with various authorities and "made insults and even threats" — but was not known to be violent.

Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also said it had received a warning about the suspect last year.

Authorities promise investigation

Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the heads of Germany's domestic and foreign intelligence services are expected to answer questions at parliamentary committee hearings on December 30, a senior politician told AFP.

Ms Faeser said on Sunday "no stone will be left unturned" in finding out what information had been available to security services before last Friday's attack.

She added the attacker did "not fit any previous pattern" because "he acted like an Islamist terrorist although ideologically he was clearly an enemy of Islam", according to AFP.

It comes after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faced criticism about security lapses that allowed the attack to happen, and was heckled by some bystanders during a visit to Magdeburg on Saturday.

Calls for social media companies to monitor platforms

The suspect shared some of his beliefs on social media, with his posts suggesting he supported anti-Islam and far-right parties, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Counter Extremism Project Berlin senior director Hans-Jakob Schindler said German authorities would likely look at implementing changes to what people could do online.

But, he added that social media companies needed to take some responsibility when it came to online radicalisation.

"There is still going to be too big of an internet and too big a social media sphere for them [German authorities] to monitor all of that," he told News Channel.

"We need social media companies to take responsibility for what is going on on their platform, that is the only industry that doesn't have to take any responsibility in a legal sense for their product … there is still no real legal framework that requires them to actively cooperate with security forces.

"We need their help, not just in Germany, this challenge is in many western societies."

Mr Schindler said the attack led to Islamophobic and then anti-immigration content online.

He has called for the government to look at what mistakes were made, from security measures around the market to missed warnings.

"Really analyse this and improve so the mistakes are not repeated in the future," he said.

"To regain the trust and not let this become a polarising issue."

AP/Reuters