German authorities launched a large-scale search operation in the western city of Solingen on Saturday after a knife attack at a festival left three people dead and at least eight injured, five of them seriously.
“The police are conducting a large-scale search for the perpetrator,” the police said in a statement. A large number of officers, including special units, have been deployed around the centre of Solingen.
“Both victims and witnesses are being questioned,” the authorities added.
Police have also set up a web portal where witnesses can upload any relevant information about the attack.
The incident occurred shortly after 9.30pm on Friday (local time), when witnesses alerted police that an unknown individual had attacked several people with a knife in the central Fronhof square. According to authorities, the attacker managed to flee, and so far very little information is available about him.
Police believe the stabbings were carried out by a “lone wolf” and have not provided details about the identity of the victims.
The “Diversity Festival,” celebrating the city’s 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was scheduled to run through Sunday, with several stages spread across the city’s main streets offering live music, cabaret and acrobatics.
One of the event’s organisers, Philipp Müller, took to the stage on Friday evening to ask the audience to leave “calmly, please keep your eyes open because unfortunately the attacker has not yet been caught.”
Solingen, a city with approximately 160,000 inhabitants, is located close to Cologne and Düsseldorf.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack on Saturday and stressed the importance of arresting the attacker quickly so that he can be punished to the full extent of the law.
“The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that has shocked me greatly. An attacker has brutally murdered several people. I have just spoken to the mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach. We mourn the victims and stand with their families,” Scholz said on X.
The country’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also contacted the mayor on Saturday morning.
“The atrocious act in Solingen shocks me and our country. We mourn the dead and care for the injured, to whom I wish strength and a speedy recovery with all my heart,” Steinmeier said in a statement on Saturday.
“The aggressor must be brought to justice. Let us stand united against hatred and violence,” he added.
The rise in knife attacks is causing growing concern in Germany. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently proposed tightening gun laws, limiting the length of knife blades that can be carried in public to 6 centimetres instead of the current 12 centimetres.
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