The mass attack this Friday at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, which according to the authorities of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, is a terrorist attack, has two tragic historical precedents: the attacks in Berlin in 2016 and in Strasbourg in 2018:
On December 19, 2016, Anis Amri, a 24-year-old Tunisian citizen, sped a truck into the Christmas market located next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Breitscheidplatz in the district of Charlottenburg from Berlin. As a result of the massive accident, 12 people died, one of them the original driver of the vehicle, and another 561 were injured. Amri fled and was killed four days later in Milan after being intercepted at a routine check at the exit of the train station and refusing to show his identity document to the agents. A few hours after his death, a video of the perpetrator of the attack was released in which he appeared swearing allegiance to the terrorist organization Islamic State.
Two years after the Berlin attack, on December 11, 2018, jihadist terrorism attacked a Christmas market again. In this case, the one located near Kléber Square in the French town of Strasbourg. That day, Chérif Chekatt, 29 years old and born in the city to an Algerian family, opened fire on those attending the market shouting “Allahu akbar.” In the attack, 5 people died and another 11 were injured, 5 of them seriously. Like the Tunisian Amrni, Chekatt managed to flee the scene in a taxi. Two days later, he was shot dead by French police in the Neudorf neighborhood. His name appeared on a list of subjects with potential risk to the security of the State.
