German police are questioning a 26 year-old Syrian man who has claimed responsibility for killing three people in a knife attack on Friday evening.
The attack in Solingen, east of Düsseldorf, left five people injured and has been claimed by terror organisation Islamic State (IS).
After a 25-hour man-hunt, a man wearing bloody clothes identified only as Issa al H., approached police in a squad car and reportedly said, “I’m the person you’re looking for”.
Police say the man, who reportedly hid himself after the attack, came to Germany in December 2022, filed for asylum and was not known to authorities as an Islamist extremist.
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On its Telegram propaganda channel, IS said the attack was aimed at a “group of Christians” out of “revenge for Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere” – apparently referring to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
An ecumenical service was held on Sunday morning in Solingen after some 1,500 people gathered on Saturday evening to remember the victims of the attack on Solingen’s 650th anniversary festival.
“The city is different now to what it was,” said Michael Mohr, city dean.
Half an hour of east of Düsseldorf, capital of North Rhine Westphalia, governor Hendrik Wüst urged people in Solingen to “not be shaken by terror and hatred”.
Police have three men in custody, including a 15-year-old they detained on Saturday accused of having prior knowledge of the planned attack. He has reportedly refused to give evidence. Another 36-year-old man was arrested on Saturday evening at a refugee accommodation in Solingen after a tip-off. Some hours later, just before 11pm on Saturday, the main suspect reportedly approached police and turned himself in.
It is not known if the man had any links to IS and whether, as is common, he made a video dedicating his attack to the Islamist organisation.
A police spokesman said on Saturday the perpetrator had aimed specifically for people’s throats. Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively rare in Germany but a recent wave of attacks has prompted the federal government to present plans to reduce the maximum size of knives that can carried in public.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that “everything must be done to ensure law and order prevail”.
“We must not accept something like this in our society or resign ourselves to this,” he added.
Friday’s attack increases pressure on the chancellor, who promised to crack down on such attacks following a fatal stabbing of a 29-year-old policeman in June.
The chancellor’s promise to “deport in grand style” all refugees and asylum seekers linked to violent attacks has yet to come to pass.
On Sunday the Bild tabloid warned the government in Berlin to “stop talking” and introduce a “zero tolerance” approach to such crimes.
The attacks come a week before state elections in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony, where fears about violent asylum seekers have boosted support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The party’s interior spokesman Gottfried Curio attacked the “ritualised” expressions of sorrow from parties “willing to go over dead bodies [rather] than address the problem by its name”.
“All citizens, including peaceful, hard-working and well-integrated migrants want, finally, an end to this tolerated terror,” he added.
On Sunday in Solingen, a city of 165,000 and a household name in Germany for its steel and knife-making industry, locals said they were still shaken by Friday’s attack.
“I could just cry, even though we are fine,” said Barbara Müller, a local woman, to ZDF public television. “Knowing that it can happen anywhere now is sad, just sad.”
