Tom Sims and Rene Wagner
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German police said on Sunday they had detained a 26-year-old Syrian man after a knife attack in the city of Solingen left three people dead and eight wounded, adding that they were also investigating the suspect’s possible links to Islamic State.
The attack and the extremist group’s claim of responsibility have raised concerns from some politicians, who have called for increased security, stricter weapons controls, tougher penalties for violent crime and restrictions on immigration.
The attack took place on Friday evening during a festival on the market square where a live band was playing to celebrate Solingen’s 650-year history, and mourners set up an impromptu memorial nearby.
Düsseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement early Sunday morning that the suspect turned himself in late Saturday and admitted to the crime.
German federal prosecutors, who asked not to give his surname due to German privacy laws, identified the Syrian man as Issa al-H. and said he was suspected of being a member of the Islamic State.
Prosecutors said “because of his radical Islamic beliefs” the defendant sought to kill as many people he considered non-believers as possible, stabbing them multiple times in the neck and upper body.
Friedrich Merz, a prominent politician who leads the centre-right opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said the country should stop accepting further refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.
“Enough is enough!” he said in a letter on his website.
North Rhine-Westphalia state Interior Minister Herbert Reul said the suspects came from a refugee facility in Solingen that was searched on Saturday.
Der Spiegel magazine, citing unidentified security sources, reported that the suspect planned to move to Germany in late 2022 and seek asylum.
The Islamic State released a statement on its Telegram account on Saturday, describing the man who carried out the attack as an “Islamic State soldier.”
The group posted two videos of the alleged attacker on its Telegram account on Sunday: the first purported to show a masked man pledging allegiance to the Islamic State leader, while the second, with his face blurred, purported to show him speaking just before the attack.
Hendrik West, the premier of North Rhine-Westphalia state, where Solingen is located, described the attack on Saturday as an act of terrorism.
Germany’s Federal Criminal Office (BKA) says there have been around 10 Islamist attacks since 2000. One of the biggest was in 2016, when a Tunisian man drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring dozens.
“The risk of violent acts with jihadist motivations remains high. The Federal Republic of Germany remains a direct target for terrorist organisations,” the BKA said in a report earlier this year.
