ISIS claims duty for Germany terror assault

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a knife attack at a diversity festival in Germany which killed three people on Friday. 

ISIS said in a statement on Saturday that one of its members carried out the deadly attack in Solingen, western Germany, ‘in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere’. 

‘The perpetrator of the attack on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State’ group, said a statement from the jihadists’ Amaq news agency on the Telegram messaging app.

The knifeman, who is still on the run, fatally stabbed two men, aged 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman and injured eight others in Fronhof central square at around 9.45pm on August 23. 

A 15-year-old boy is being quizzed over claims he knew about the attack hours before, but failed to report it, police revealed in a press conference. 

According to local media, two witnesses claimed to have seen the teen speaking to the attacker before he unleashed his rampage, and said that they heard him say: ‘I’m going to stab everyone’. 

No formal description or image of the attacker has been released by German police yet as they say they have received multiple, conflicting descriptions of him. 

It was confirmed in a police press conference this afternoon that the attacks were ‘very targeted’ at people’s throats and necks, following speculation yesterday.

Detectives had been unable to rule out terrorism as a motive for the attack before ISIS claimed responsibility earlier today. 

A further eight people were injured, including four who are still fighting for their lives.

DJ Topic, who was onstage at the time of the attack, said in a statement on Instagram that he continued to play to try and keep the crowd calm. 

Earlier on Friday he posted a picture of him performing with the caption: ‘Playing in my hometown today at 8pm’.   

Topic wrote on Instagram: ‘During my set, security personnel from the city came to me and asked me to please continue playing to avoid causing a mass panic, as there were already people killed by a stabbing attacker.

‘So I kept playing, even though it was incredibly hard. After about 10-15 minutes, the music was finally stopped, and the people were informed about the incident.’

His response comes after a video emerged of one of the festival organisers, Philipp Müller, appearing on stage to ask people to ‘go calmly; please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator hasn’t been caught.’

The festival was being held to celebrate 650 years of Solingen and the city was expected 75,000 visitors across the space of three days. 

According to the mayor Tim Kurzbach, the idea behind the festival was to celebrate the diversity of the people of Solingen and a weekend full of music, food and drink and other entertainment had been planned. 

Police have said they have very little information on the suspect so far but believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker.  

‘None of us knows why’ the attack took place, said Herbert Reul, who is the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.

‘I can’t say anything about the motive now’ and it isn’t clear who the assailant was, he said, but the attacker left the scene ‘relatively quickly.’

Germany’s Chancellor Olf Scholz said in a post on X that the perpetrator must be caught quickly and punished to the ‘full extent of the law’. 

Interior minister, Nancy Faeser, added that security authorities were doing everything they could to catch the suspect and investigate the background to the attack.

The usually quiet Fronhof central square had been packed with people last night for Solingen’s three-day Festival of Diversity. 

But the upbeat atmosphere swiftly turned to terror when the man randomly started stabbing people gathered close to the stage. 

Eerie photos from the scene show officers and emergency services standing solemnly in the darkness, surrounded by blue flashing lights with a helicopter circling above.

One eyewitness, Lars Breitzke told local media that it was during singer Suzan Köcher‘s set when he saw a person ‘fall over just a metre away’.

He said he thought they were just drunk but – noting the expression of shock on the singer’s face – he turned and saw several others on the floor amid ‘pools of blood’.

Police are said to be classifying it as a terrorist attack, according to Bild and Germany’s armed special police officers have been deployed to assist at the scene.

Solingen is also known as the ‘City of Blades’, as it has long been renowned for the manufacturing of fine swords, knives, scissors and razors made by famous firms. 

The tragedy comes amid a heated political debate about rising knife violence in German cities.

Chief Inspector Sascha Kresta from the Wuppertal police told a local newspaper last night: ‘The attacker stabbed people at random with a knife. There are currently three fatally injured victims, four seriously injured and people in shock.

‘A large-scale search for the attacker is underway, and we absolutely want to arrest the perpetrator. But investigations, forensic evidence and witness interviews are also ongoing at the same time.’

The local Solinger Tagblatt newspaper reported that authorities told people to leave central Solingen. 

Bjorn Boch, the deputy editor-in-chief, said: ‘People were running away from the scene. Many were very calm so we didn’t have to panic but it was shocking and everybody who had to see that… I can’t imagine what that was like.’

He said the city was ‘packed with people’ as thousands arrived for Friday’s event.

Around 40 emergency service vehicles attended the scene of the horrific attack last night and special forces units from all over North Rhine-Westphalia rushed to Solingen to help.

Road crossings were closed and residents were asked to stay in their homes following the attack last night. 

Photos from the scene show police officers with guns are patrolling the streets.

A local reporter described the scenes as ‘spooky’ and said the party atmosphere turned to shock within minutes as festivalgoers began crying.

Philipp Müller, the festival organiser, said: ‘People left the square in shock, but peacefully.’

State Premier Hendrik Wüst said north Rhine-Westphalia ‘is united in shock and grief’ in these ‘dark hours’.

He said: ‘An act of brutal and senseless violence has struck our state to the heart,’ according to The Telegraph.

Interior Minister Herbert Reul visited the crime scene at 1.20am and said: ‘Tonight we are all in Solingen in shock, fright and great sadness. We all wanted to celebrate our city anniversary together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured. 

‘[It] breaks my heart that there was an assassination attack on our town. [There are] tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives.

‘Also to all the people who had to witness this, I have my great sympathies, they must have been terrible pictures. I thank all the emergency and security forces for their service.’

Mayor Tim Kurzbach said on social media: ‘This evening we are all in shock, horror and great sadness in Solingen. 

‘We all wanted to celebrate our city’s anniversary together and now we have dead and injured people to mourn. 

‘It breaks my heart that there was an attack on our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives.’

German politician Serap Güler posted on social media: ‘What happened in Solingen was terrible and horrible.

‘I hope above all that the injured victims of this terrible attack survive and that their families have a lot of strength.

‘Hopefully the perpetrator will be caught quickly. Our thoughts are with everyone who is on the scene.’

The ‘Festival of Diversity,’ marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with 80,000 people expected.

The festival was officially opened at around 7pm by Solingen’s mayor Tim Kurzbach.

Presenter Panagiota Petridou, a native of Solingen, was supposed to lead the evening, and her management confirmed she is safe.

Several stages were erected in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

Solingen has around 160,000 inhabitants and is located near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.

Germany’s top security official, interior minister Nancy Faeser, recently proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to 6cm (nearly 2.4in) to be carried in public, rather than the length of 12cm (4.7in), which is allowed now.

The country has seen a series of knife attacks over the past 12 months.

A police officer was killed and five people were wounded in a knife attack at a far-right rally in the city of Mannheim in late May.