Germany Arrest after knife attack in Solingen
Police have arrested a person in a refugee shelter in the city in connection with the knife attack in Solingen. A police spokesman told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur that connections between the crimes were now being investigated. He could not yet say anything about the personal details.
24.08.2024, 21:51
SDA
The police had previously stormed the refugee accommodation in the former tax office in Solingen with strong forces "We have received information and we are currently carrying out police measures on the basis of this", said a police spokesman. A special task force was also deployed. The area is being cordoned off by a team of hundreds.
At the same time, a letter of confession was received from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia. The attacker was an IS member and had carried out the attack, in which three people were killed and eight seriously injured, out of "revenge for Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere", according to a statement on the IS mouthpiece Amak. The attack was aimed at a "group of Christians". The Düsseldorf police said that it had to be checked whether the letter was genuine. Investigators pointed out that IS had often claimed responsibility for an attack in the past without there being any reliable evidence of real cooperation with the perpetrator.
Even before the arrest and the letter of confession, the investigating public prosecutor's office had not ruled out a terrorist background to the crime. "We have not yet been able to identify a motive, but based on the overall circumstances, we assume that the initial suspicion of a terrorist-motivated act cannot be ruled out," said the senior public prosecutor Markus Caspers at a press conference in Wuppertal this afternoon. No other motive is currently apparent. Should the evidence for a terrorist offense be dispensed with, a takeover of the case by the Federal Public Prosecutor General could be considered.
A 15-year-old youth had already been arrested in the morning, but the police do not believe him to be the perpetrator. According to witnesses, an as yet unknown person had spoken to the youth shortly before the crime about intentions that would fit the execution of the crime, said Caspers. It was not known whether this person was the perpetrator.
Three people were killed in the attack at a neighborhood festival on Friday evening, two men aged 67 and 56 and a woman aged 56. Eight people were injured, four of them seriously. The perpetrator apparently chose the victims at random. He then escaped in the turmoil and initial panic following the attack. The police continued to urge the population of Solingen to exercise caution on Saturday.
