Creator: Tom Sims and Rene Wagner
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German police are investigating a suspect in custody, a 26-year-old Syrian man, after a stabbing assault within the metropolis of Solingen left three individuals useless and eight injured, authorities mentioned on Sunday. His attainable ties to Islamic teams.
The incident, and the armed group’s declare of duty, has stoked considerations amongst some politicians who’ve urged tighter safety, tighter restrictions on weapons, more durable penalties for violent crimes and curbs on immigration.
The assault came about on Friday night time throughout a pageant on the Fronhof market sq., the place a stay band was taking part in to rejoice Solingen’s 650 years of historical past. Mourners arrange a makeshift memorial close to the positioning of the incident.
Dusseldorf police and prosecutors mentioned in a joint assertion early Sunday that the suspect turned himself in late Saturday and admitted to the crime.
“This particular person’s involvement is at the moment being intently investigated,” they mentioned.
Friedrich Merz, a distinguished politician who leads the opposition center-right Christian Democrats, urged the nation to cease taking in additional refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.
“Sufficient is sufficient!” he mentioned in a letter on his web site.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Inside Minister Herbert Ruhr mentioned the suspect got here from a refugee dwelling in Solingen and that the property was searched on Saturday.
Der Spiegel quoted unidentified safety sources as saying that the suspect had moved to Germany in late 2022 and sought asylum.
A spokesman for the German federal prosecutor mentioned that the German federal prosecutor has taken over the case and is investigating whether or not the suspect is a member of the Islamic State.
The group issued a press release on its Telegram account on Saturday, describing the boys who carried out the assault as “Islamic State troopers.”
It offered no proof for the declare and didn’t have particulars in regards to the suspects’ attainable membership within the group.
Hendrik Uster, the governor of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia the place Solingen is positioned, described the assault on Saturday as an act of terror.
Germany’s Federal Legal Police Workplace (BKA) says there have been a couple of dozen Islamist assaults since 2000. , leading to 12 deaths and dozens of accidents.
“The chance of jihadist-motivated violence stays excessive. The Federal Republic of Germany stays a direct goal of terrorist teams,” the BKA mentioned in a report earlier this 12 months.
