Minister: Christmas market attack investigation in 'full swing'

(L-R) Nancy Faeser, Germany's Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, Reiner Haseloff, Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt, Volker Wissing, Germany's Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport, and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) visit the scene of the fatal attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg. The previous evening, a car driver drove into a group of people at the market, killing and injuring several individuals. Sebastian Kahnert/dpa

German Interior Nancy Faeser on Sunday promised a quick investigation into the Magdeburg Christmas market attack, saying "every stone" was being turned over.

"The investigations by the security authorities are in full swing," she said in a statement.

Faeser said all the available information on the 50-year-old perpetrator from Saudi Arabia was being pieced together, but acknowledged he "does not fit into any previous pattern."

The minister acknowledged that the man, who arrived in Germany in 2006 and worked as a doctor, had come to the attention of law enforcement and government agencies in the past.

The revelations are raising questions about whether Friday's car-ramming attack that left five people dead and 200 injured could have been prevented.

"The views and statements made by the perpetrator are being investigated, as are the information and procedures that were available to various authorities and the judiciary," Faeser said.

She said perpetrator acted like an "Islamist terrorist," even though "ideologically he was clearly an Islamophobe."