Syrian Man, 'Attack Perpetrator' in Solingen, Surrendered to Police

About 24 hours after a knife attack in Solingen, Germany, which left three dead, a government official announced that the main suspect had been arrested and is under interrogation. Herbert Reul, the Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, stated in the early hours of Sunday, September 4, "The real suspect is the one we just arrested." Hours later on Sunday, German police announced that the attacker, a 26-year-old man from Syria, had surrendered. Details about the identity and location of the 'main suspect' have not yet been released, but some German media, including Bild newspaper, reported that he surrendered in bloody clothes. German newspapers have written that the attacker was not known as an extremist to the country's security forces. According to AFP, the police reported that the victims were two men aged 56 and 67, and a 56-year-old woman. Four of the eight injured in this incident are still in critical condition. At the same time, Esmaeili, a freelance journalist in Germany, reported that one of the injured is a young Iranian asylum seeker who, like the other victims, was attacked in the neck and is being treated in the hospital. Earlier on Saturday, German police announced the arrest of two other suspects. However, according to the Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, these two were "probably not the perpetrators of the attack." Initially, police reported the arrest of a 15-year-old in a refugee accommodation in Solingen and later announced that another suspect had been arrested in a refugee center. After the announcement of the second suspect's arrest, Bild reported that he was detained in a refugee center just a few hundred meters from the attack site. The knife attack at a festival in Germany left three dead; police are searching for the assailant. Meanwhile, ISIS claimed responsibility for the knife attack in Solingen without providing evidence. A Telegram channel associated with the group called the attacker a "soldier of the Islamic State" and stated that he carried out the attack to avenge Muslims in Palestine and around the world. The attack by a knife-wielding man occurred during a music festival in Solingen on the evening of Friday, September 2, resulting in three deaths and eight injuries. Hendrik Wüst, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, and other government officials described the attack as a "terrorist act." Chancellor Olaf Scholz also wrote in a post on X that "the killer must be arrested quickly and punished as much as possible." This attack occurred in a market square while music groups were performing live to celebrate the 650th anniversary of the city's founding; German officials stated that the continuation of the music festival would be canceled after the attack. Bild had previously reported that the knife-wielding attacker was randomly and blindly targeting passersby and those present at the scene. Police investigations at the attack site continued on Saturday, and citizens placed flowers and candles around the square in memory of the victims. Earlier this month, the German government announced plans to tighten laws regarding knives that can be carried in public by limiting the permissible size of knives. The knife attack on Friday evening comes as three state elections are scheduled next month in Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg, where the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has a chance of victory. Although the motive and identity of the attacker are still unclear, one candidate from this party wrote on social media: "Do you really want to get used to freeing yourself from this situation and ending this imposed multicultural madness?" Knife attacks and fatal shootings in Germany are relatively rare. However, several knife attacks have occurred in various cities in recent months. Two months ago, a 29-year-old police officer was killed in Mannheim during an attack on a far-right party demonstration, and then a woman was attacked with a knife in Frankfurt. Subsequently, the German federal police announced on July 2 that a 34-year-old Iranian man was shot dead by officers after attacking three police officers with a knife in Bavaria. Solingen, with a population of about 165,000, is known for its knife manufacturing industry.