The police have said that the search for the unidentified assailant is underway after eight people were injured in an attack on festival-goers.
Police are searching for a suspect after three people were killed at a festival in the western German city of Solingen.
Eight people were injured, five of them seriously, as thousands gathered in the central square for celebrations marking Solingen’s 650th anniversary, police said on Saturday. The deceased included one woman and two men.
“Both victims and witnesses are currently being questioned,” police in the nearby city of Düsseldorf said in a statement early Saturday, adding that “a large group” of officers were searching for the perpetrator.
An unidentified man attacked several people with a knife around 9:40 p.m. (19:40 GMT) on Friday, police said.
Police said the attack took place at a diversity festival in Solingen, located in Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders the Netherlands.
These events are held until Sunday, with many stages in the central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics. Solingen has about 160,000 inhabitants and is located near the larger cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf.
Police on Saturday warned residents who see anything suspicious not to act on their own, but to call the police emergency number.
“We currently have no leads on his whereabouts,” a police spokesman said. There was also no description of the suspect, Germany’s DPA news agency reported.
Herbert Riuhl, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, visited the scene early Saturday and told reporters it was a targeted attack on human life, but declined to speculate on its motive.
Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively rare in Germany.
Interior Minister Nancy Fasser recently proposed tougher weapons laws to allow only knives with blades measuring 6cm (2.4 inches) in length, instead of 12cm (4.7 inches), to be carried in public.
“It breaks my heart that our city was attacked. Tears come to my eyes when I think of those we have lost,” Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach said in a statement. “I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives.
“This evening, we all face shock, horror and great sadness in Solingen. We all wanted to celebrate our city’s anniversary together, and now we have to mourn the dead and wounded,” Kurzbach wrote.
