Germany: Three dead, four injured in stabbing attack at Solingen Festival

Three people were killed and four others were seriously wounded in a stabbing attack during a festival on Friday night in Solingen, a city in western Germany, according to police.

The attack, which occurred around 10 p.m. local time, involved a single, unidentified assailant who remains at large. Authorities described the attack as a targeted assault but have not yet identified a motive.

Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach expressed deep sorrow, stating, “It tears my heart apart that there was an attack on our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives.”

The attack took place at the Fronhof, a market square where a festival was celebrating the town’s 650th anniversary with live music. Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively rare in Germany.

Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, visited the scene and described the incident as a targeted attack on human life but refrained from speculating about the motive.

The German government has been working to tighten regulations on knives carried in public by reducing the permissible length.

This incident follows a similar attack in June, where a 29-year-old police officer was fatally stabbed in Mannheim during a right-wing demonstration. In 2021, a stabbing attack on a train also resulted in multiple injuries.

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