A man suspected of ploughing a car through crowds at a German Christmas market in an attack that killed five people and injured scores faces multiple charges of murder and attempted murder, police said on Sunday.
The Saudi suspect held strongly anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany’s migrant policy, officials said on Saturday.
News magazine Der Spiegel, citing unnamed security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany’s spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Taleb al-Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a “price” for how it treated Saudi refugees.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the “terrible, insane” attack that killed five people and shocked the nation, days before Christmas and eight years after a jihadist drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin.
Police were puzzling over the motive of Abdulmohsen, the top suspect after an SUV ploughed at high speed through a dense crowd on Friday, also injuring 205 people in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
The mass carnage sparked sorrow and revulsion, with a nine-year-old child among the dead and casualties being treated in 15 regional hospitals.