ISIS claims responsibility for knife attack on German festival

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claimed on its Telegram channel on Saturday that one of its members was behind the deadly knife attack at the 650th anniversary celebrations in the city of Solingen in Germany that left three people dead and eight injured on Friday evening.

“The perpetrator of yesterday's attack on a group of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere,” the statement said.

It is unclear whether the perpetrator was a member of the group and authorities are still searching for suspects.

German police arrested a 15-year-old suspect who may have spoken to the perpetrator on Saturday morning, according to Solingen daily newspaper.

On Friday evening, someone began stabbing festival-goers. At least three people died and eight were injured, four of them seriously.

Lars Breitzke, who attended the festival, told the Daily newspaper that “a person fell over just a meter away from me.” Breitzke said that people initially thought the person was drunk, but then more bodies fell over – in pools of blood.

The suspect then fled the scene, which triggered a manhunt for him. On Saturday morning, the police arrested a 15-year-old, whom they accused of “not filing a report” because he allegedly knew about the stabbing beforehand.

However, the police have not yet released a description of the perpetrator because they do not have a “core description”. “We can only give a description of the perpetrator when we have one,” police spokesman Markus Caspers told the Solingen daily newspaper.

German law enforcement authorities cannot yet rule out terrorism as a motive, as two witnesses reportedly overheard a conversation before the stabbing but only reported it afterwards.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Saturday on behalf of Prime Minister Olaf Scholz: “Knives are used to commit brutal acts of violence that can cause serious injuries or be fatal,” as part of efforts to ban blades longer than six centimeters.

“We want a general ban on dangerous switchblades and will present appropriate changes to the weapons law in a timely manner,” Faeser continued.