Doctors appear to be on a rampage, from India to Saudi Arabia!
While a Saudi-origin doctor went on trial in Germany on Monday for ramming his SUV through a Christmas market that killed six people and injured over 300, a Kashmiri doctor has been held near New Delhi with a massive stockpile of explosives and weaponry.
Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 51-year-old psychiatrist, was apprehended next to the battered vehicle after the attack on December 20 in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
Prosecutors say Abdulmohsen — a critic of Islam and an adherent of far-right views and radical conspiracy theories — was motivated by “dissatisfaction and frustration”.
They say he aimed “to kill as many people as possible”.
AS the trial started, Abdulmohsen, now with a long, greying beard, smiled as he was seated in a bullet-proof cubicle.
He had used a rented BMW to race into the crowd, killing a nine-year-old boy and five women aged between 45 and 75.
Security services faced uncomfortable questions about whether the attack could have been prevented, given Abdulmohsen’s history of extreme rhetoric and violent threats.
He faces six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder in a trial expected to last until at least March.
The large number of victims and witnesses led authorities to build a temporary courtroom in a hall, as no existing court in the state of Saxony-Anhalt could accommodate the trial.
Abdulmohsen, who faces life in prison if convicted.
Warning
Abdulmohsen arrived in Germany in 2006 and obtained refugee status 10 years later.
Active at times as a migrant rights campaigner, he was also a prolific user of social media, writing rambling posts critical of Islam and repeating far-right conspiracy theories.
As well as clashing with other activists, he criticised the German government for its supposed complicity in the country’s “Islamisation”.
He had been working as a psychiatrist since 2020 despite concerns over his competence that led some colleagues to nickname him “Dr Google”, according to news magazine Der Spiegel.
The magazine also reported that Saudi authorities tried to warn German intelligence about a social media post in August 2024 in which Abdulmohsen mused about attacking a German embassy or “randomly killing Germans”.
However, Abdulmohsen’s often bizarre ideology appears to have contributed to his falling through the cracks of surveillance by anti-terror authorities.
The spark for the attack appears to have been a court ruling against Andulmohsen in a civil lawsuit brought by other refugee activists.
The trial will also examine flaws in the security measures at the market, which should have been significantly reinforced following a deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016.
This year, some cities have cancelled the beloved winter tradition because of the cost of anti-terrorism measures.
Magdeburg’s own Christmas market will open from November 20, but will be closed on the anniversary of the attack.
Magdeburg resident Birgit Lange, 57, told AFP that the attack had made her “more alert”.
“You think to yourself as you move around town: ‘Is this safe?'”
Nevertheless, she said she would be going to the market this year, adding: “If we all hid away, it wouldn’t help anyone… It’s an attempt to intimidate us.”
The attack was one of a string committed by foreign nationals that inflamed Germany’s debate on immigration in the run-up to a general election in February.
That election saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) win a record 20 percent.
The party is now riding high in opinion polls in Saxony-Anhalt, the state whose capital is Magdeburg, and observers say it has a real chance of taking control of the state for the first time in elections next year.
As the trial began, Abdulmohsen held up a laptop with the words “Sept 2026” displayed on its screen, possibly a reference to a regional election in which the far-right AfD hopes to make major gains.
Kashmiri Doctor (s) Arrested
Indian police achieved a massive breakthrough against terror networks operating near New Delhi when a joint team of Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir Police arrested a Kashmiri doctor, uncovering a massive stockpile of explosives and weaponry hidden in his rented accommodation in Faridabad.
The seizure, described by officials as one of the largest in recent years, has exposed links to the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror outfit.
The accused, identified as Dr. Muzammil Shakeel, a 35-year-old from Pulwama district in Kashmir and a faculty member at Al-Falah University Medical College, was apprehended following a tip-off from another arrested doctor.
Shakeel, who had rented the modest two-room flat about three months ago, was wanted in Srinagar for allegedly pasting posters in support of JeM, a Pakistan-based militant group designated as a terrorist organization by India and several global bodies.
During the raid, police recovered approximately 360 kilograms of ammonium nitrate—a highly volatile chemical commonly used in improvised explosive devices (IEDs)—concealed in eight large suitcases and four smaller ones.
The haul also included one Carbine Cok rifle, two automatic pistols, 84 live cartridges, five liters of additional chemicals, 20 electronic timers with batteries, a walkie-talkie set, and 14 bags suspected to be used for packaging explosives.
Authorities clarified that initial media reports of RDX (a military-grade explosive) were inaccurate; lab tests are underway to confirm the exact composition.
The operation stemmed from the recent arrest of Dr. Aadil Ahmad Rather, another Kashmiri doctor from the Government Medical College in Srinagar, who was detained in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur last month on similar JeM propaganda charges.
Rather’s interrogation revealed Shakeel’s involvement in stockpiling materials, leading to the Faridabad raid over the weekend. An AK-47 rifle and ammunition had previously been seized from Rather’s locker in Kashmir, further tying the duo to a broader “white-collar terror ecosystem” involving medical professionals allegedly aiding groups like JeM and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH).
Faridabad Police Commissioner Satender Kumar Gupta hailed the joint effort as a “major success” in foiling potential attacks in Delhi-NCR.
“This network was using educated professionals to procure and hide sensitive materials under the guise of normal life,” Gupta told reporters during a press briefing. He added that an imam named Ishtiyaq, who maintained regular contact with Shakeel, has also been detained for questioning.
Investigations suggest the ammonium nitrate was delivered to the site around 15 days prior, possibly sourced through illicit channels. Both doctors have been remanded to police custody in Jammu & Kashmir, where the probe continues to unravel accomplices and plot details.
Security agencies are now scrutinizing similar networks across the region, amid heightened alerts ahead of festive seasons.
The big question is: Are white collar professionals the new face of terrorism?
With Inputs from Agence France-Presse
