SOLINGEN, Germany (AP) — The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a knife attack Saturday that killed three people and wounded eight at a crowded festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary.
The militant group said on its news website that the attackers were targeting Christians and that they were “fighters of the Islamic State” who carried out the attack on Friday night to take “revenge against Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
The IS claim could not immediately be verified and the group has not provided any evidence to back up its claims.
Police later detained a suspect, North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister announced early Sunday.
“We have been following up on important leads all day,” Herbert Reul told German national television ARD’s Tageschau news program. “The person we have been searching for all day has just been detained.”
He was being questioned, Reul said.
Reul said police not only have “clues” but are also gathering “evidence.”
Authorities previously said a 15-year-old boy was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of knowing about the planned attack and not reporting it to authorities, but that he was not the attacker. Two female witnesses told police they overheard the boy and an unidentified person discussing their intention to commit a bloody crime before the attack, authorities said.
Ahead of Reul’s announcement, Markus Kaspers, a senior prosecutor at the prosecutor’s office’s counterterrorism department, said at a press conference on Saturday that authorities could not yet say what the attacker’s motive was.
“We have not yet been able to determine a motive, but given the overall circumstances we cannot rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack,” Kaspers said, without providing further details.
Authorities said the three dead were two men, aged 67 and 56, and one woman, aged 56. Police said the gunman appeared to have deliberately aimed for the victims’ throats.
“We are seeing the first signs of a new wave of terror attacks,” said Peter Newman, professor of security studies at King’s College London. “Islamic State is seeking to capitalize on the mass mobilization caused by the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023, although technically Islamic State has nothing to do with the terror attacks,” he said.
“Attacks like those seen in Solingen are exactly what (IS) is trying to incite. They use the internet to encourage people to attack ‘infidels’ in simple ways, like with a car or a knife, to give the impression that (the group) is everywhere and ready to strike at any time,” Neumann told the Associated Press.
Torsten Fries, who led the police operation on Friday night, said officers were conducting searches and investigations across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Police recovered several knives but added they could not confirm whether any of them were used in the attack.
Police warned people to remain vigilant even as worshippers began leaving flowers at the scene. Authorities have set up an online portal where witnesses can upload footage of the incident and any other relevant information.
The church in Solingen opened its doors to provide space for prayer and emergency pastoral care.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faser visited the city on Saturday evening and said the government would do everything in its power to help Solingen residents.
“We cannot allow such horrific attacks to divide our society,” she said, appearing alongside state Premier Hendrik Wuest and Mr Reul.
Wuest described the attack as “a terrorist act against the security and freedom of this country,” but Faser, the country’s chief security officer, did not classify it as a “terror attack.”
Shortly after 9.30pm on Friday, people called police to report a man attacking several people with a knife in the city’s central square, Vronhof.
Solingen, a city of about 160,000 people near larger cities such as Cologne and Duesseldorf, was holding a “festival of diversity” to mark its 650th anniversary. The festivities began on Friday and were scheduled to run through Sunday, with several stages in the city center offering attractions including live music, cabaret and acrobatics.
The attack happened in the crowd in front of the stage, and the rest of the festival was called off hours later, although the stage lights were still on, while police and forensic scientists searched for clues in the sealed-off square.
“Our hearts were torn apart last night. We in Solingen are filled with fear and sadness. None of us could sleep after what happened in our city yesterday,” Solingen Mayor Tim Kurtzbach told reporters on Saturday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the perpetrators must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
“The attack in Solingen is a horrific incident that has deeply shocked me. The attacker brutally killed several people. I have just spoken to Solingen’s mayor, Tim Kurtzbach. We mourn the victims and stand with their families,” Scholz said on social media platform X on Saturday.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also met with the mayor on Saturday morning.
“The heinous act in Solingen shocks me and my country. We mourn the victims, concern the injured and sincerely wish them strength and a speedy recovery,” Steinmeier said in a statement.
A decade after the Islamic State militant group declared a caliphate over large swaths of Iraq and Syria, the group no longer controls any territory, has lost many of its prominent leaders and has largely disappeared from global news headlines.
Still, the group continues to recruit members and claim responsibility for deadly attacks around the world, including those in Iran and Russia earlier this year that left dozens dead. Sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq continue to carry out attacks on government forces in those countries and U.S.-backed fighters in Syria.
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Liechtenstein reported from Vienna.
