Profile of Suspect in German Attack Sparks Confusion

When a driver rammed a car through a festive Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg shortly after 7 p.m. on Friday, leaving five dead and more than 200 injured, the country seemed to be facing a repeat of its worst Islamist terrorist attack in recent history.

- BERTRAND BENOIT AND BOJAN PANCEVSKI

Yet the suspect's profile paint a surprising portraitthat of a Saudi exile and vocal anti-Islam activist-leaving a perplexed Germany unsure about what lessons should be drawn from the drama.

In 2016, a Tunisian man who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State drove a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin, leaving 13 dead. This year, four people have been killed in two Islamist attacks, and security services warned of a threat from Islamist assaults on Christmas markets.

Hours after the attack, authorities said the suspect, detained on the spot, was 50-year-old Saudi national Taleb AI Abdulmohsen, who had been in Germany since 2006 and worked as a psychiatrist.

On Saturday night he was brought before a judge, who ordered pretrial detention. Authorities identified the victims of Friday's attack as a 9-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75.