Three killed in mass stabbing at German festival

Three people have been killed and several others wounded in a knife attack at a German festival.

German police said that at least three people were killed and four more seriously wounded in an attack at the festival in the city of Solingen in the country’s west on Friday night.

A police spokesman said they received several calls at about 9:30 pm with witnesses reporting that an unknown person armed with a knife wounded several people at random.

“Many witnesses are in a state of shock and are receiving care and giving their statements. We hope to receive information about the assailant, particularly his appearance, so that we can make the manhunt more targeted,” he said.

The spokesman said the information compiled so far was “very thin”. Police set up a website for people to send in footage or information about the attack.

The attacker reportedly targeted the necks of the victims. However, the motive and identity of the suspect is still unknown and the suspected male attacker is at large.

The police spokesperson said the “current assessment is that this was a deliberate attack,” but when he was asked by reporters if the tragedy was a terror attack, he said, “That would just be speculation. I can’t say that at the moment.”

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Meanwhile, a “large contingent” has been deployed, including a helicopter, to find the perpetrator.

Federal health minister Karl Lauterbach said he hoped "rescue teams can save the wounded who are still alive and that police can catch the cowardly and pathetic perpetrator.”

The knife attack took place at an event marking the city’s 650th anniversary billed as a festival of diversity that began on Friday and was supposed to run through to Sunday. Around 10,000 people attended it.

Solingen, near Cologne, in western Germany is the site of one of the deadliest racist attacks in the country.

On May 29, 1993, an arson attack by right-wing extremists killed five Turkish people, raising international concerns.

The victims were the Genç family’s two daughters, two granddaughters and one niece. Seventeen other family members were also seriously injured in the arson attack carried out by four neo-Nazis.

At the time, a wave of right-wing violence had swept newly reunified Germany, many targeting Turkish families like the Gençs.

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