German police arrest suspect in deadly knife attack, reports say

SOLINGEN, Germany — A 26-year-old man suspected in a deadly knife attack in the western German town of Solingen has been taken into police custody, Der Spiegel and other media reported late Saturday, about 24 hours after the attack that killed three people. 

Police declined to immediately comment. 

The Islamic State group earlier claimed responsibility for Friday’s knife attack that also wounded eight people.  

Earlier on Saturday, police said they had detained a 15-year-old who they said may be connected with the attack but said the perpetrator was still at large. 

Later, police said they made a second arrest as part of a police operation at a home for refugees in Solingen. Police said they could not provide more details on the individual or their connection to the incident. 

Describing the man who carried out the attack as a “soldier of the Islamic State,” the militant group said in a statement on its Telegram account: “He carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”  

The group did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion, and it was not clear how close any relationship between the attacker and Islamic State was. 

Hendrik Wuest, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, described Friday evening’s attack during a festival in the city as an act of terror.  

“This attack has struck at the heart of our country,” Wuest told reporters. 

The attack took place in the Fronhof, a market square in the western German city where live bands were playing as part of a festival marking its 650th anniversary. 

Markus Caspers, an official with the public prosecutor’s office in Duesseldorf, said that from the start, authorities were treating the attack as a possible terrorist incident because there was no other known motive and the victims seemed unrelated. 

A police official, Thorsten Fleiss, said the assailant appeared to aim for his victims’ throats. 

Police cordoned off the square on Saturday and passersby placed candles and flowers outside the barriers. 

“We are full of shock and grief,” Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach told journalists. 

Authorities canceled 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. 

North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, visited the scene in Solingen early on Saturday. He told reporters it was a targeted attack on human life. 

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 anti-immigrant far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning. 

Though the motive and identity of the assailant were not known, a top AfD candidate for one of the state elections, Bjoern Hoecke, seized on Friday’s attack, posting on X: “Do you really want to get used to this? Free yourselves and end this insanity of forced multiculturalism.” 
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