08/24/2024 – 5:05
An unidentified man stabbed several people during a street party celebrating the anniversary of the city of Solingen, in the west of the country.
German interior minister says he is “deeply dismayed”. German police said on Saturday (24/08) they were still searching for the man who killed three people and injured eight others – five of them seriously – in a knife attack on Friday night at a street festival in Solingen, western Germany.
“Police have deployed a large number of forces to the old town of Solingen, including special forces. Victims and witnesses are currently being questioned,” the police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia said in a statement.
Police have asked residents to provide clues or images of the attack via a specially created website. They have also urged residents to avoid the area where the attack took place and to stay at home.
City anniversary
The attack occurred at around 9:40 pm (local time), when an unidentified man stabbed people at random who were attending a party to celebrate the city’s 650th anniversary.
The attack was classified as an “attack,” a police spokeswoman said. She dismissed media reports that it had already been classified as a “terrorist attack.” The spokeswoman also declined to comment on a claim in the Bild tabloid that the attacker spoke Arabic.
“The attacker stabbed people at random. That is why we assume that this is an attack,” said Wuppertal city police spokesman Sascha Kresta, adding that according to the information he had, the attacker deliberately tried to hit the victims in the neck area.
“Police race against time”
The state’s Interior Secretary, Herbert Reul, visited the scene and said the attacker probably acted alone. He said there was no “solid evidence” at the moment, noting that police were racing against time to locate the attacker.
“The question now is how to catch the attacker. Someone arbitrarily attacked people out of nowhere and killed them without us having any idea why,” Reul said.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she was “deeply dismayed” by the “brutal attack”, in a post on the social network X.
She further stressed that “the security services are doing everything in their power to detain the perpetrator of the attack and determine his motivations.”
md (EFE, DPA, Lusa)
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