Islamic State group claims knife attack in Germany that killed 3

People lay flowers near the scene of a knife attack in Solingen, Germany, on Saturday.

By Daniel Niemann and Stephanie Liechtenstein

Aug. 24, 2024 Updated 4:05 PM PT

SOLINGEN, Germany — The Islamic State militant group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a knife attack in Solingen, Germany, that killed three people and wounded eight others at a crowded festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary.

The group said on its news site the attacker targeted Christians and is a “soldier of the Islamic State” who carried out the attack “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”

The Islamic State claim couldn’t immediately be verified. No evidence for the group’s assertions was provided.

Police later detained a suspect, the state internal affairs minister of North Rhein Westphalia said early Sunday, local time.

“We have been following a hot lead all day,” Herbert Reul told Tagesschau, the news program of the German public television network ARD. “The person we have been searching for all day has been detained a short while ago,” he said.

He was being questioned, Reul said, adding that police have collected “pieces of evidence.”

Officials had said that a 15-year-old boy was arrested early Saturday. Police said he was suspected of knowing about the planned attack and not informing authorities, but he was not the attacker.

The three people who died were two men ages 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman, authorities said. Police said the attacker appeared to have deliberately aimed for his victims’ throats.

“We are seeing the first signs of a new wave of terrorist attacks,” said Peter Neumann, a professor of security studies at King’s College in London. He said Islamic State was “trying to capitalize” on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that started after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, “even though strictly speaking [Islamic State] had nothing to do with it.”

“The kind of attack we saw in Solingen is exactly the kind of attack that [Islamic State] is trying to inspire. It’s calling on people over the internet to attack ‘unbelievers’ using simple methods, like cars and knives,” Neumann told the Associated Press. “That way, it is trying to create an impression that [the militant group] is everywhere and could strike anytime.”

Thorsten Fleiss from the German police, who was the chief of operations Friday night, said that police were conducting searches and investigations in the entire state of North Rhine Westphalia.

Fleiss also said that police have found several knives, but he was unable to confirm whether any of them were used in the attack.

Police had warned people to stay vigilant even as well-wishers started to leave flowers at the scene. Authorities established an online portal where witnesses could upload video and any other information relevant to the attack.

Churches in Solingen opened their doors to offer a space for prayer and emergency pastoral care.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser paid a visit to Solingen on Saturday evening. She said that the government would do everything possible to support the city and its people.

“We will not allow such an awful attack to divide our society,” she said, appearing alongside Minister-President of North Rhine Westphalia Hendrik Wüst and State Minister for Internal Affairs Herbert Reul.

Reul pleaded with the public to “give time to the police” so that they can do their work. He also said that police presence would be increased at larger events.

People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday to an attacker having wounded several people with a knife on a central square, the Fronhof.

“Last night our hearts were torn apart. We in Solingen are full of horror and grief. What happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep,” the mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, told reporters Saturday near the scene of the attack.

The Festival of Diversity, marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

The attack took place in the crowd in front of one stage. Hours later, the stage lights were still on as police and forensic investigators looked for clues in the cordoned-off square. The rest of the festival was canceled. Solingen, with about 160,000 residents, is near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.

Markus Caspers, from the counterterrorism section of the public prosecutors office, told the news conference that the 15-year-old boy was arrested after two female witnesses contacted police. They said they had listened to a conversation between the boy and an unknown person before the attack, speaking about intentions that corresponded to the events that followed.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday that the attacker must be caught quickly and punished with the full force of the law.

“The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that has shocked me greatly. An attacker has brutally killed several people. I have just spoken to Solingen’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach. We mourn the victims and stand by their families,” Scholz said on X.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke to Kurzbach on Saturday morning.

“The heinous act in Solingen shocks me and our country. We mourn those killed and worry about those injured and I wish them strength and a speedy recovery from all my heart,” Steinmeier said in a statement Saturday.

“The perpetrator needs to be brought to justice. Let’s stand together — against hatred and violence.”

There has been concern about increased knife violence in Germany, and Faeser recently proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to nearly 2.4 inches to be carried in public, rather than the length of 4.7 inches that is currently allowed.

A decade after the Islamic State declared its caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria, the extremists no longer control any land, have lost many prominent leaders and are mostly out of the world news headlines.

Still, the group continues to recruit members and claim responsibility for deadly attacks around the world, including lethal operations in Iran and Russia this year that left scores dead. Its sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq still carry out attacks against government forces in both countries as well as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.

Associated Press writer Niemann reported from Solingen, Liechtenstein from Vienna.