The Bundestag has decided to address the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg this year in a special session.
According to information from the ARD studio in Berlin, the Bundestag’s Internal Affairs Committee and the Parliamentary Control Board, which oversees the work of intelligence services, will discuss the security situation in Germany on December 30.
“Two days after the horrific act, more and more details are emerging about the perpetrator, which do not fit the known pattern, but raise questions for security authorities at both the federal and Saxony-Anhalt levels,” said Dirk Wiese, Vice Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group.
According to Wiese, in addition to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the presidents of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) should also be called to the special meetings of the Internal Affairs Committee and the Parliamentary Control Board.
Faeser wants to investigate the information that was available regarding Taleb A.
Following the attack, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced further investigations to determine which authorities had prior knowledge of the perpetrator.
“Investigations by the security authorities are in full swing,” Faeser said in a statement.
This includes the Federal Criminal Police Office, and authorities are leaving “no stone unturned.”
“The views and statements made by the perpetrator, as well as the information and procedures that existed within various authorities and the judiciary, are being investigated,” she added.
Clear conclusions are expected to be drawn from this.
For instance, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) reported that it had received information about the perpetrator.
BAMF explained that the tip-off was received through social media channels in late summer of the previous year.
“Like any other tip-off, this was taken seriously.”
However, since BAMF is not an investigative authority, the person who provided the information referred directly to the responsible authorities, as is customary in such cases, according to BAMF’s response.
Security experts note that there are many radical statements online, but it is difficult to determine whether a person is simply radicalized online or if they will act as the perpetrator did in the Magdeburg attack.
“Completely Atypical Pattern”
The Federal Criminal Police Office had received information from Saudi Arabia regarding the Magdeburg attacker in November 2023.
Holger Münch, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, told ZDF that proceedings had already been initiated against the individual.
“The police in Saxony-Anhalt then took investigative measures.”
However, the case was non-specific, according to Münch.
Münch reminded that the individual accused of the Magdeburg attack had “various contacts with authorities, made insults, and occasionally threatened, but was not known for violent acts.”
Taleb A. had threatened on Twitter that Germany would “pay a price” for its treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia.
But these issues need to be reviewed again to see if anything was overlooked by the security authorities, Münch said.
“We have a completely atypical pattern here, and we need to analyze it calmly now.”
— DW (Deutsche Welle)
