The suspect has been identified in local media reports as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, the BBC understands. He is a 50-year-old psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, around 40km (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

Despite the suspect's many statements expressing hostility to Islam, the head of the AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt, Martin Reichardt, said in a statement "the attack in Magdeburg shows that Germany is being drawn into political and religious fanaticism that has its origins in another world".

The suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist named Taleb A., has lived in Germany for nearly 20 years. Authorities are investigating the motives behind the attack, which remain unclear. View on euron