A 26-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker turned himself into police, saying he was answerable for the Solingen knife assault that left three useless and eight wounded at a competition marking the town’s 650th anniversary, German authorities introduced early Sunday.
Duesseldorf police mentioned in a joint assertion with the prosecutor’s workplace that the person “said that he was answerable for the assault.”
“This person’s involvement in the crime is currently being intensively investigated,” the assertion mentioned.
The suspect is a Syrian citizen who had utilized for asylum in Germany, police confirmed to The Associated Press.
On Saturday the Daesh militant group claimed duty for the assault, with out offering proof. The extremist group mentioned on its news web site that the attacker focused Christians and that he carried out the assaults Friday evening “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and in every single place.” The declare couldn’t be independently verified.
The assault comes amid debate over immigration forward of regional elections subsequent Sunday in Germany’s Saxony and Thueringia areas the place anti-immigration events such because the populist Alternative for Germany are anticipated to do nicely. In June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed that the nation would begin deporting criminals from Afghanistan and Syria once more after a knife assault by an Afghan immigrant left one police officer useless and 4 extra individuals injured.
The assault raised fears that Europe might face one other wave of terror assaults. On Saturday, a synagogue in France was focused in an arson assault. French police mentioned they made an arrest early Sunday.
Friday’s assault plunged the town of Solingen into shock and grief. A metropolis of about 160,000 residents close to the larger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf, Solingen was holding a “Festival of Diversity” to rejoice its anniversary.
The competition started Friday and was purported to run by Sunday, with a number of phases in central streets providing points of interest resembling stay music, cabaret and acrobatics. The assault happened in entrance of 1 stage.
The competition was canceled as police regarded for clues within the cordoned-off sq..
Instead residents gathered to mourn the useless and injured, inserting flowers and notes close to the scene of the assault.
“Warum?” requested one signal positioned amid candles and teddy bears. Why?
Among these asking themselves the query was 62-year-old Cord Boetther, a service provider fron Solingen.
“Why does one thing like this need to be accomplished? It’s incomprehensible and it hurts,” Boetther mentioned.
Officials had earlier mentioned a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion he knew concerning the deliberate assault and failed to tell authorities, however that he was not the attacker. Two feminine witnesses informed police they overheard the boy and an unknown individual earlier than the assault talking about intentions that corresponded to the bloodshed, officers mentioned.
People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. native time Friday {that a} man had assaulted a number of individuals with a knife on the town’s central sq., the Fronhof. The three individuals killed had been two males aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old girl, authorities mentioned. Police mentioned the attacker appeared to have intentionally aimed for his victims’ throats.
Source: www.dailysabah.com