German Police was alerted about the Christmas market attack? Social media claims suggest so

On Friday (Dec 20), a man drove a car into the Christmas market in Germany's eastern city of Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring at least 200. German Police have arrested a Saudi national, a 50-year-old doctor named Taleb Abdul Jawed living in Germany since 2006.

After the arrest on Saturday (Dec 21), several claims about the incident have been made on social media. In one such claim, a man shared a post on LinkedIn saying a Saudi girl living in Germany had informed the German Police about his intentions in 2023.

The post by Noor Dahri, Executive Director at Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism, claimed that the suspect, reportedly an anti-Islamist, had been planning the attack for a long time. The post furtherclaimed that the girl multiple times reported to the police and asked for his arrest, but the police acted in a "bureaucratic manner".

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The post even shared multiple screenshots of purported chats between the girl and the police department.

Just a month before the incident, the post claimed, Taleb had taken to social media platform X threatening he would kill 20 Germans. The same girl again went to the police and cited his tweet and reported him but was "ignored", the LinkedIn post said.

An anti-Islamist

As per reports, Taleb is a physiotherapist and came to Germany in 2006 as a refugee.

As per his social media accounts, he claimed himself to be an anti-Islamist. His LinkedIn bio says "Germany wants to Islamise Europe".

Dahri shared another post on LinkedIn claiming that the suspect is an atheist and proudly expresses his tendencies to "slaughter Germans" on X.

The post further claimed Taleb is wanted by Saudi Arabia on charges related to terrorism, and smuggling girls from Saudi and other European countries.

(With inputs from agencies)