German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government on Sunday pledged to investigate whether security services could have prevented the Christmas market car-ramming attack that killed five people and injured over 200.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the heads of the domestic and foreign intelligence services will face questioning by two parliamentary committees on December 30, after opposition parties had demanded quick answers.
The Saudi man arrested at the scene of the attack, 50-year-old psychiatrist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, had made online threats to kill German citizens and had a history of court appearances and quarrels with state authorities.
News magazine Der Spiegel, citing unnamed security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany’s spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a “price” for how it treated Saudi refugees.
And in August Abdulmohsen wrote on social media: “Is there a path to justice in Germany …