Key Points
- German police have arrested a suspect in connection with the stabbing attack in Solingen.
- Three people were dead and eight were wounded in the attack.
- The self-proclaimed Islamic State group earlier claimed responsibility for the stabbing rampage.
A 26-year-old man suspected of a stabbing rampage in Germany has been taken into police custody, according to local media reports.
"We have just arrested the true suspect," North Rhine-Westphalia region interior minister Herbert Reul said on public television.
"The man we have been looking for all day has since a short time ago been in detention," he said, adding that police found evidence to convict him.
The self-proclaimed Islamic State group earlier claimed responsibility for Friday's knife attack that also wounded eight people.
A placard reading 'Why?' in German among flowers and tributes placed on a sidewalk near the scene after the knife attack. Source: EPA / Volker Hartmann
IS claims responsibility for stabbing rampage
In a statement on Telegram, IS's Amaq propaganda arm said that "the perpetrator of the attack on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State".
IS said the attack was carried out as "revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere", in an apparent reference to Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The claim has yet to be verified. German officials had earlier said that "a terrorist motive cannot be excluded" for the act.
Earlier on Saturday, a prosecutor said a first person was arrested: a 15-year-old suspected of failing to report a criminal act.
Witnesses had allegedly seen the teen discussing the attack just before it happened with a man who could be the killer, said Markus Caspers, prosecutor of Duesseldorf, just west of Solingen.
The people killed were men of 56 and 67 years of age and a 56-year-old woman, officials said.
"The victims were completely unknown with no known ties between them," Caspers told a press conference.
Four of the wounded were in a "serious" condition, officials said, revising down an earlier estimate of five.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the perpetrator "must be caught quickly and punished".
The attacker struck as thousands of people gathered for the first night of a "Festival of Diversity", part of a series of events to mark Solingen's 650th anniversary.
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul says it was a targeted attack on human life. Source: AP / Thomas Banneyer
How the attack unfolded
The attack took place in the Fronhof, a market square in the western German city where live bands were playing as part of the three-day festival.
Witness Lars Breitzke told the Solinger Tageblatt newspaper he was a few metres away from the attack, not far from the stage, and "understood from the expression on the singer's face that something was wrong".
"And then, a metre away from me, a person fell," said Breitzke, who at first thought it was someone who had had too much to drink.
When he turned around, he saw other people lying on the ground amid pools of blood.
A police official, Thorsten Fleiss, said the assailant appeared to aim for his victims' throats.
Police cordoned off the square on Saturday and passers-by placed candles and flowers outside the barriers.
Flowers and candles are placed near the scene of knife attack in Solingen. Source: EPA / Christopher Neundorf
A German musician who goes by the name Topic said he was playing on a nearby stage when the incident occurred. He was told about what had happened but was asked to keep playing "to avoid causing a mass panic attack", he posted on Instagram.
He was eventually told to stop, and "since the attacker was still on the run, we hid in a nearby store while police helicopters circled above us," Topic wrote.
Authorities cancelled the remainder of the weekend festival.
Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively rare in Germany. The government said earlier this month it wanted to toughen rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the maximum length allowed.
In June, a 29-year-old policeman was fatally stabbed in Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration. A stabbing attack on a train in 2021 injured several people.
Solingen, well known for its knife manufacturing industry, is a city of some 165,000 people.
The episode comes ahead of three state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, in which the has a chance of winning.
