German stabbing rampage a ‘possible act of terrorism’, official says

SOLINGEN, Germany – A stabbing rampage in which a man killed three people and wounded eight others at a festival in the western German city of Solingen was “a possible act of terrorism”, an official said on Aug 24, as the search for the unknown assailant continued.

Police said they had detained a 15-year-old and were investigating whether the individual is linked to the attacker, who is still at large.

Mr Markus Caspers, an official with the public prosecutor’s office in Duesseldorf, said at an afternoon news conference that “terrorism” could not be ruled out since there was no other known motive. The victims also seemed unrelated.

A police official, Mr Thorsten Fleiss, confirmed at the same briefing that the assailant appeared to aim for his targets’ throats.

“The investigation and manhunt for possible further perpetrators and reasons for the crime are in full swing,” the police said in a statement.

The incident occurred at around 9.40pm on Aug 23 (3.40am on Aug 24 in Singapore), when thousands had gathered for the first night of a “Festival of Diversity”, part of a series of events to mark Solingen’s 650th anniversary.

“The perpetrator must be quickly caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on social media platform X earlier on Aug 24.

The knife attack occurred at the Fronhof, a market square in Solingen where bands were playing. 

Police cordoned off the square on Aug 24, and passers-by placed candles and flowers outside the barricades.

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

A German musician who goes by the name Topic said he was playing on a nearby stage when the attack happened. He was told about the incident but was asked to continue “to avoid causing a mass panic attack”, he posted on Instagram.

He was eventually told to stop, and “since the attacker was still on the run, we hid in a nearby store while police helicopters circled above us”.

The authorities cancelled the remainder of the weekend event.

German newspaper Solinger Tageblatt reported that one of the co-organisers of the festival came on stage to cancel the event. The crowd was asked to leave the city centre.

Following the announcement, thousands of attendees left the area, and a journalist at the scene described the atmosphere as “ghostly”.

“People left the scene in shock but calmly,” Mr Philipp Mueller, one of the organisers, told the newspaper.

Mr Lars Breitzke, a witness, told the Tageblatt that he was a few metres from the attack, not far from the stage. He “understood from the expression on the singer’s face that something was wrong”.

“And then, a metre away from me, a person fell,” he added. He initially thought it was someone who was drunk.

But when he turned around, he saw other people lying on the ground and several pools of blood.

Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively uncommon in Germany. The government said in early August 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 died after he was stabbed in Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration.

There was a stabbing attack on a train in 2021, injuring several people.

Solingen, well known for its knife manufacturing industry, is a city of some 165,000 people. REUTERS, AFP