Who is Taleb, 50-year-old Saudi doctor behind Germany’s Christmas market attack?

Taleb A started living in Germany in 2006 and he was granted refugee status in 2016

A Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg was struck by a car on Friday, resulting in the deaths of two people and injuries to over 60 individuals. A 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia, identified as Taleb A, has been apprehended by authorities in connection with the attack.

A toddler was among the two confirmed dead. Authorities are warning that the death toll may increase and have condemned the incident.

-Taleb A, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, is a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy, according to a report by The Guardian.

-Taleb A started living in Germany in 2006 and he was granted refugee status in 2016.

-He got a ‘permanent residence permit’, according to the country's interior minister Tamara Zieschang

-“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know, there is no further danger to the city," Saxony-Anhalt’s governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters, AP reported.

-The motive behind the attack, however, remains unclear

Regional government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe and city spokesperson Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate act.

The suspected attack came eight years after an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. On December 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist plowed through a crowded Christmas with a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a statement, condemning the attack and expressing solidarity with the German population. It affirmed its position it rejecting violence and expressed condolences to the families of the victims. However, it did not mention anything about the arrested man.

Steeped in centuries of tradition, German Christmas markets have become a beloved holiday staple, not only within the country but also across much of the Western world. In Berlin alone, over 100 markets opened last month.