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".

Far-right co-chair Alice Weidel says attack is ‘act of an Islamist full of hatred ... for us Germans, for us Christians’