Pallade Veneta - Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack railed against Islam, Germany

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 Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, the main suspect after an SUV ploughed at high speed through a dense crowd in the eastern city of Magdeburg Friday.

As well as killing five people, the vehicle wounded 205 others. A nine-year-old child was among the dead and casualties were being treated in 15 regional hospitals.

Germany has been hit by multiple deadly jihadist attacks, but evidence gathered by investigators and his past online posts painted a different picture of Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old doctor of psychiatry.

In an unpublished interview with AFP from 2022 for an unrelated story, Abdulmohsen presented himself as "a Saudi atheist".

He has helped Saudi women flee their country -- but also railed against what he saw as Germany's permissive attitude towards refugees from other mainly Muslim countries.

Interior Minister Nancy Fraser said he held "Islamophobic" views. And a prosecutor said that "the background to the crime... could have been disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany".

Taha Al-Hajji of the Berlin-based European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights told AFP Abdulmohsen was "a psychologically disturbed person with an exaggerated sense of self-importance".

- Call for unity -

In his online posts, Abdulmohsen spoke about his troubles with and suspicions of German authorities.

Last August, he posted on social media: "Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens?... If anyone knows it, please let me know."

Die Welt daily reported, citing security sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a "risk assessment" on him last year but concluded that he posed "no specific danger".

A sombre Scholz, dressed in black, visited the attack site Saturday together with national and regional politicians laying flowers outside the main church in Magdeburg.

Local people have left candles, flowers, cards and children's toys at the Johanneskirche church, where Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier later joined a memorial service.

Scholz pledged the state would respond "with the full force of the law" to the attack. But he also called for unity as Germany has been rocked by a heated debate on immigration and security ahead of elections in February.

It was important "that we stick together, that we link arms, that it is not hatred that determines our coexistence but the fact that we are a community that seeks a common future", he said.

US President Joe Biden later joined other world leaders in voicing his condolences "to the people of Germany grieving the terrible attack".

"No community -- and no family -- should have to endure such a despicable and dark event, especially just days before a holiday of joy and peace."

Pope Francis also offered condolences to the German president in a telegram.

Scholz said he was grateful for the expressions of solidarity from around the world. "It is good to hear that we as Germans are not alone in the face of this terrible catastrophe."

- 'Sad and shocked' -

Surveillance video footage of the attack showed a black BMW racing straight through the crowd, scattering bodies amid the festive stalls that were selling traditional handicrafts, snacks and mulled wine.

This year's fair has been cancelled out of respect for the victims.

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, which has focused on jihadist attacks in its campaign against immigrants, wrote on X: "When will this madness stop?"

"What happened today affects a lot of people. It affects us a lot," Fael Kelion, a 27-year-old Cameroonian living in the city, told AFP.

"I think that since (the suspect) is a foreigner, the population will be unhappy, less welcoming."

Michael Raarig, 67 and an engineer, feared the attack "will play into the hands of the AfD" which has had its strongest support in the formerly communist eastern Germany.

Security was stepped up Saturday at Christmas markets elsewhere in Germany with more police out in Hamburg, Leipzig and other cities.

Church bells rang in Magdeburg and across the region at 7:03 pm (1803 GMT) the time of Friday's attack.

R.Zaccone--PV