German stabbing suspect is 26-year-old Syrian man who admitted to the crime: Authorities
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Candles and flowers and the inscription "Why? You are not alone" near the area where three people were killed and several injured in a knife attack during a city festival in Solingen.
PHOTO: AFP
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FRANKFURT - A suspect in German police custody following a stabbing rampage in the city of Solingen that killed three people and injured eight is a 26-year-old Syrian man, the authorities said on Aug 25 as they looked into his possible links with the Islamic State terrorist group.
The incident, along with the militant group’s claim of responsibility, sparked concern among some politicians who urged enhanced security, tighter curbs on weapons, stiffer punishment for violent crimes, and limits to immigration.
The attack occurred during a festival on the evening of Aug 23
The suspect turned himself in late on Aug 24 and admitted to the crime, Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement early on Aug 25.
“The involvement of this person is currently under intensive investigation,” they said.
Mr Friedrich Merz, a prominent politician who leads the opposition centre-right Christian Democratic Union party, urged the country to stop admitting more refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. “It’s enough!” he said in a letter on his website.
The suspect came from a home for refugees in Solingen that was searched on Aug 24, said North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul.
Der Spiegel magazine, citing unidentified sources, said the suspect moved to Germany in late 2022 and sought asylum.
Federal prosecutors have taken over the case and are investigating whether the suspect was a member of Islamic State, a spokesperson for the prosecutors said.
The group described the man who carried out the attack as a “soldier of the Islamic State” in a statement on its Telegram account on Aug 24.
It did not provide evidence for this assertion, and details of the suspect’s possible membership of the group were not immediately known.
Mr Hendrik Wuest, Premier of North Rhine-Westphalia state, on Aug 24 described the attack as an act of terror.
Polls show that German anti-immigration parties AfD and BSW may surge in elections in the Thuringia and Saxony regions next weekend. The attack has prompted politicians from across the political spectrum to call for stricter weapon laws.
Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck said: “More gun ban zones and stricter gun laws – nobody in Germany needs cutting and stabbing weapons in public. We no longer live in the Middle Ages.”
Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has said there have been around a dozen Islamist-motivated attacks since 2000.
One of the biggest was in 2016, when a Tunisian drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring dozens.
“The risk of jihadist-motivated acts of violence remains high. The Federal Republic of Germany remains a direct target of terrorist organisations,” BKA said in the report earlier in 2024.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
