The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) reported that in late summer 2023, they received a tip via social media regarding a person involved in the Magdeburg attack, according to the dpa agency.

By bnm Gulf bureau German authorities dismissed multiple warnings about the suspect in the December 20 deadly Christmas market attack in Magdeburg, including formal alerts from Saudi Arabia and reports of explicit threats.

The officials said Riyadh warned the German authorities the suspected attacker, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a Saudi dissident who described himself as an ex-Muslim, had boasted on social media that “something big will happen in Germany”. It was unclear if police ever acted upon the warnings.

The man suspected of driving a car into a Christmas market in Germany is an exiled Saudi doctor who praised far-Right politicians for combating the “Islamisation” of Europe and pledged to take “revenge” for the “harassment” of female refugees.

A Saudi doctor was investigated as the driver in a car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, leaving five dead and many injured. The incident has intensified debate on security and immigration ahead of German elections.

Germany is still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.

Saudi Arabia had warned Germany about the man suspected of carrying out the incident at the Magdeburg Christmas market, according to Saudi Arabian security sources. Saudi Arabia requested the extradition of the suspect,

The ministry previously warned the German government about al-Abdulmohsen's extremist views. It sent four so-called "Notes Verbal", three of them to Germany's intelligence agencies and one to the foreign ministry in Berlin. There was, the Saudis say, no response.

The perpetrator of the attack at the Magdeburg market had previously attracted the attention of authorities multiple times over the years. He had threatened to commit crimes and was sentenced to 90 days in prison.