The alleged perpetrator is a 26-year-old Syrian man
Suspect arrested for knife attack was released on Friday Three killed in Solingen, western GermanyAccording to officials, the man is a 26-year-old Syrian who surrendered to police and confessed to the crime.
According to police, “their involvement in the incidents is currently being thoroughly investigated.” The German state attorney general’s office has taken over the case Investigations are underway to determine if the suspect was a member of the Islamic Statewhich has claimed responsibility for the attack and said the perpetrator was one of its “soldiers”.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told EFE agency that the suspect was being investigated for “murder, attempted murder and suspicion of involvement in a foreign terrorist organisation, among others.”
The detainee will be transferred to the city of Karlsruhe this Sunday to appear before a judge of the Federal Court, who will decide whether to go for preventive custody or not,
According to North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, the alleged perpetrator came from a refugee hostel in Solingen, which was searched on Saturday. Herbert Rule. it’s about “Actually we spent the whole day looking for him“And this is “extremely suspicious”, declared Reul, who added that there is evidence that indicates he is the attacker and that the man is being questioned.
The minister has acknowledged the sentiment This latest arrest brought “at least some relief”. He defended himself by saying, “In these 24 hours, luckily, we managed to catch the author, perhaps this is the best proof that the state works.”
with a residence permit from 2022
According to investigation sources cited by the German media, the suspect He got into a patrol car with his clothes stained with blood and told the agents: “I am the one you are looking for.” According to this unofficial information, the alleged attacker He arrived in Germany in 2022 and should have been deported to Bulgaria in 2023Because it is the country of entry into the European Union (EU) and therefore responsible for your asylum application.
The suspect, however, managed to escape from the authorities Sufficient time for the deportation order to expire And later obtained a temporary residence permit as a beneficiary of auxiliary protection, coming from a war-torn country where it was not possible to repatriate him. This had not yet come to the attention of the security forces.
On Saturday the police made two arrests as part of their search operation; the first of them, in the morning, a 15 year old teenagerWho is suspected of having knowledge of the attacker’s plans.
As night falls, elite special forces of the police are mobilised They broke into a refugee reception center in the centre of Solingen, where they arrested a man who was initially believed to be the attacker, although this was later refuted.
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed on Saturday afternoon that the perpetrator of the attack was one of its “soldiers” and had acted to avenge “Palestine and Muslims everywhere”.
German authorities are studying the veracity of the statement, but they start here The hypothesis is that the attack was of a terrorist natureBecause so far there is no evidence that points to any other possible motivation.
Attack during a festival
The events took place in the center of Solingen, where thousands of citizens attended on Friday night A series of concerts within the framework of the Variety FestivalIt was organised to mark the 650th anniversary of this city in western Germany.
Attackers Stabbed people at random He was in the vicinity of it and three people – two men aged 67 and 56 and a woman aged 56 – died almost instantly, while four others are in critical condition. He then fled amid the chaos.
Arrest of the suspect and his Syrian origin Threats have been made to create fear ahead of state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, where the far-right anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is likely to win.