Germany: Syrian Man Stabs 11 People to Death
Two days of search. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least three people
The stabbing in Europe continues. On Sunday, August 25, German police announced: “A 26-year-old Syrian man suspected in a knife attack Friday night in Solingen that killed three people and injured eight others, some seriously, has confessed.” The statement was preceded by a large-scale police operation: on Friday evening, a man stabbed random people to death during a party celebrating the 650th anniversary of the founding of the North Rhine-Westphalia city before fleeing into the crowd.
Solingen is a city of about 160,000 inhabitants located about thirty kilometers from Düsseldorf, in western Germany. The frenzied attack sparked a massive manhunt that led to the first arrest, on Saturday, of a 15-year-old boy suspected of being in contact with the perpetrator of the attack. There was a knife was found in the afternoon, after which German police officers from the Special Operations Command (SEK) searched a house for asylum seekers near the site of the attack in the evening, arresting the 36-year-old Syrian man.
According to the local German press, the police caught the wrong man. And that’s because on Saturday night, around 23:00, another Syrian man approached officers on the street, surrendered, and confessed to the crime. According to Spiegel, he arrived in Germany in 2022 and sought asylum in Bielefeld, receiving it, and has so attracted no attention as a radical Islamist.
The seriousness of the incident was underscored by the fact that the Islamic State terrorist organization, which is banned in many countries around the world, claimed responsibility for the attack. Germany’s Federal Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office, which has taken over the investigation into the attack, is still unclear “whether the attacker had a direct link to the terrorist organization or whether he acted inspired by its jihadist propaganda.”
