Police probe links to Islamic State after suspect turns himself in over deadly Solingen festival stabbing
Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
A 26-year-old man has turned himself in to police claiming to be the knifeman behind the brutal Solingen festival attack which killed three and injured eight.
German federal prosecutors are investigating the suspect for links to the Islamic State extremist group after they claimed responsibility for Friday’s atrocity, which saw the knifeman aim for victim’s throats.
The man is a Syrian national who had applied for asylum in Germany and surrendered to police late on Saturday amid a major manhunt, according to the Associated Press.
The rampage saw the knifeman aim for people’s necks after he began stabbing people at a ‘Festival of Diversity’ to celebrate the west German city’s 650th anniversary.
A woman, 56, and two men, aged 56 and 67, were killed and eight were injured after the onslaught in front of one of the festival stages in the city’s central square, the Fronhof.
“This person’s involvement in the crime is currently being intensively investigated,” Dusseldorf police said in a joint statement with the prosecutor’s office.
Isis claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday evening, saying the attacker was a “soldier of the Islamic State”, but the group provided no immediate evidence to support the claim.
The attack comes amid debate over immigration ahead of regional elections next Sunday in Germany’s Saxony and Thueringia regions where anti-immigration parties such as the populist Alternative for Germany are expected to do well.
So far two other people have been detained in connection with the mass stabbing. A man was arrested on Saturday after police raided a home for asylum seekers near the scene of the attack.
Earlier on Saturday a 15-year-old boy, who police allege knew the attack was going to take place before it happened, was also arrested.
At a press conference earlier on Saturday, police confirmed the deceased were two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman – but they have not yet been publicly identified.
Eight others were injured including four who were injured “very seriously”, and are currently fighting for their lives in hospital.
The tragedy unfolded shortly after 9.30pm local time (7.30pm GMT) on Friday when witnesses reported an attack on people in the Fronhof, Solingen’s central square.
Festival organiser Phillip Müller then asked people to leave “calmly”, informing festivalgoers that the perpetrator had not been caught.
Markus Caspers, from the counterterrorism section of the public prosecutor’s office, said on Saturday: “So far we have not been able to identify a motive, but looking at the overall circumstances, we cannot rule out” the possibility of terrorism.
It is also unknown whether the attacker was previously acquainted with the 15-year-old with whom he spoke before carrying out the knife attack.
The festival was supposed to run until Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics, but the remainder of the event was cancelled. Instead residents gathered to mourn the dead and injured, placing flowers and notes near the scene of the attack.
One sign placed amid candles and a teddy bear asked simply: “Why?” Grieving local Cord Boetther, 62, a merchant, said: “Why does something like this have to be done? It’s incomprehensible and it hurts.”
On Saturday the German chancellor Olaf Scholz said the perpetrator must be found quickly and face the “fullest extent of the law”.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it was a “heinous act” adding that the attacker “needs to be brought to justice”.
“Let’s stand together – against hatred and violence,” he added.
