Islamic State group claims responsibility for fatal Germany knife attack

Police have detained two people over a knife attack in Solingen, Germany, which left three people dead and eight others wounded and for which the Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility.

The attack took place during a festival celebrating the city’s 650th anniversary.

The group said the attacker, who was detained after the group claimed responsibility, targeted Christians and is a “soldier of the Islamic State,” carrying out the assaults Friday to “avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”

The claim has not been verified and no evidence for the group’s connection was provided.

The state internal affairs minister announced they had arrested a one person early Sunday. That person was detained at a refugee shelter in the city of the attack, 15 miles east of Dusseldorf, police said. However authorities did not indicate if the suspect was a refugee or that the individual was thought to be the attacker.

“We have been following a hot lead all day,” Herbert Reul told Tagesschau, the news program of the German public television network ARD, according to the Associated Press.

“The person we have been searching for all day has been detained a short while ago,” he said.

Police say they have “clues” and collected “pieces of evidence.”

Prior to announcing the arrest of a suspect, officials also said that a 15-year-old boy, suspected of knowing about the planned attack and failing to inform authorities, was arrested.

The attack killed two men, aged 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman, authorities said. Police also said that the attacker apparently tried to aim for his victims’ throats on purpose.

The program for the event, expected to draw about 75,000 people, according to the Washington Post, included live music, theater, cabaret and acrobatics, with food from all over the world.

Authorities said they are considering terrorism as a motive and are warning against the spread of misinformation surrounding the attack.

Several German officials, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, condemned the attack. Scholz described the attack on social media as “a terrible event that shocked me greatly,” and that “the perpetrator must be caught quickly and punished to the full extent of the law.”

Meanwhile, Solingen Mayor Tim Kurzbach said that the city was “in shock, horror and great sadness,” in a statement late Friday.