Islamic State group claims responsibility for deadly stabbing attack in Solingen, Germany

The Islamic State group (IS) claimed responsibility on Saturday evening, August 24, for the knife attack in Solingen (Germany), which left three dead and several injured on Friday evening during a community festival, and for which a suspect is still on the run. “The perpetrator of the attack on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen is a soldier” of the Islamic State, the jihadist group said in a statement released by its propaganda organ Amaq. It explained that it acted “to avenge the Muslims of Palestine and everywhere else.”

While the author’s motivations remain unknown for the time being, the Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had denounced a “brutal attack” while the Düsseldorf public prosecutor had estimated that a “terrorist act” could not “to be excluded”. Düsseldorf police also announced the arrest of one person, a 15-year-old boy suspected of “non-denunciation” of a criminal act. Investigators believe he may have been in contact with the perpetrator of the attack, according to Attorney General Markus Caspers.