Solingen stabbing: Man hands himself in claiming to be attacker after "Islamic State" claims responsibility

As previously reported by NationalWorld, at least three people were killed and eight seriously injured at the Festival of Diversity in Solingen, Germany on Friday, August 23. The event was marking the city’s 650th anniversary.

Now, police have said that a 26-year-old man has turned himself in, claiming to be behind the deadly knife attack. Officers in Dusseldorf said in a statement that the man “stated that he was responsible for the attack”, adding he has been arrested before.

“This person’s involvement in the crime is currently being intensively investigated,” they said.

It comes after the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, without providing evidence. The extremist group said on its news site that the attacker targeted Christians and that as a “soldier of the Islamic State” he carried out the assaults on Friday night “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere”.

The claim could not immediately be verified, but terrorism has not been ruled out by authorities.

Officials earlier said they had arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of knowing about the planned attack and failing to inform authorities, but that he was not the attacker. Two female witnesses told police they overheard the teenager and an unknown person before the attack speaking about intentions that corresponded to the bloodshed, officials said.

People alerted police shortly after 9.30pm on Friday that a man had attacked several people with a knife in the city’s central square, the Fronhof. The three people who died were two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman, authorities said.

Police said the attacker appeared to have deliberately aimed for his victims’ throats.