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from https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-stabbing-suspect-is-26-year-old-man-who-admitted-crime-police-say-2024-08-25/

Suspect in German stabbing rampage is Syrian man, who confessed,
authorities say
By Tom Sims and Rene Wagner
August 25, 20245:43 AM PDTUpdated 11 hours ago

Item 1 of 7 Karlsruhe, August 25, 2024. REUTERS/Heiko Becker
[1/7]Karlsruhe, August 25, 2024. REUTERS/Heiko Becker Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

FRANKFURT, Aug 25 (Reuters) - A suspect in German police custody
following a stabbing rampage in the city of Solingen that killed three
people and injured eight is a 26-year-old Syrian man, authorities said
on Sunday as they looked into his possible links with Islamic State.
The incident, along with the militant group's claim of responsibility,
sparked concern among some politicians who urged enhanced security,
tighter curbs on weapons, stiffer punishment for violent crimes, and
limits to immigration.
The attack occurred during a festival on Friday evening in the Fronhof,
a market square, where live bands were playing to celebrate Solingen's
650-year history. Mourners have made a makeshift memorial near the scene.
The suspect turned himself in late on Saturday and admitted to the
crime, Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement
early on Sunday.
"The involvement of this person is currently under intensive
investigation," they said.
Friedrich Merz, a prominent politician who leads the opposition,
centre-right CDU party, urged that the country stopped admitting further refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.
"It's enough!" he said in a letter on his website.
Reuters Graphics
Reuters Graphics
The suspect came from a home for refugees in Solingen that was searched
on Saturday, North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister, Herbert Reul, said. Der Spiegel magazine, citing unidentified security sources, said the
suspected had moved to Germany late in 2022 and sought asylum.
German federal prosecutors have taken over the case and are
investigating whether the suspect was a member of Islamic State, a
spokesperson for the prosecutors said.
The group described the man who carried out the attack as a "soldier of
the Islamic State" in a statement on its Telegram account on Saturday.
It did not provide evidence for this assertion and details of the
suspect's possible membership of the group were not immediately known.
Hendrik Wuest, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia where
Solingen is located, on Saturday described the attack as an act of terror. Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has said there have been
around a dozen Islamist-motivated attacks since 2000. One of the biggest
was in 2016, when a Tunisian drove a truck into a Christmas market in
Berlin, killing 12 and injuring dozens.
"The risk of jihadist-motivated acts of violence remains high. The
Federal Republic of Germany remains a direct target of terrorist organizations," the BKA said in the report earlier this year.
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Additional reporting by Alexander Ratz and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Kim Coghill, Kirsten Donovan and Bernadette Baum

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Tom Sims
Thomson Reuters

Covers German finance with a focus on big banks, insurance companies, regulation and financial crime, previous experience at the Wall Street
Journal and New York Times in Europe and Asia.

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