The so-called Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a knife attack in Solingen, Germany, that killed three people and wounded eight others, according to its Amaq news site. The group said the attacker targeted Christians and is a “soldier of the Islamic State” who carried out the attack “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere”. Police began raiding a home for asylum seekers in the city centre of Solingen, including with special forces, the German news agency DPA reported.
Special police units had joined the search for the unknown knifeman who cut the throats of revellers at a crowded festival in the western German city, killing three people and wounding at least eight others, four of them seriously. A 15-year-old boy was arrested early on Saturday. Police said he was suspected of knowing about the planned attack and failing to inform authorities, but he was not the attacker.
Markus Caspers, from the counterterrorism section of the public prosecutors office, told a news conference on Saturday that authorities have not found the perpetrator. “So far we have not been able to identify a motive, but looking at the overall circumstances, we cannot rule out” the possibility of terrorism, Mr Caspers said, though he did not offer further details. 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. Police cars at a cordon .