GERMAN authorities were warned last year about the suspected perpetrator of Friday evening’s car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, a government office said today, as more details emerged about the five people killed.

“This was taken seriously, like every other of the numerous tips,” the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said on social media today about the tip it said it received in the late summer of last year.

But the office also stressed it is not an investigative body and referred the information to the responsible authorities, following the procedure in such cases. It gave no other details about the suspect or the nature of the warnings.