3 killed in Germany in knife attack 'to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere' – Islamic State claims responsibility

IS claimed the terrorist was targeting Christians at 'Festival of Diversity'

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The Islamic State (IS) took responsibility for the knife attacks committed by a 26-year-old Syrian man at a music festival in Solingen, Germany on Friday evening.

After a manhunt, the terrorist subsequently turned himself in after killing three people – two men and a woman – and injuring several others. According to German officials, he “slashed his victims' throats.”

IS claimed the terrorist was targeting Christians at the “Festival of Diversity” and was a “soldier of the Islamic State” who carried out the attack “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere,” according to its Amaq news site.

The suspected terrorist arrived in Germany in 2022 as a migrant and applied for asylum in the city of Bielefeld, according to German news magazine Spiegel.

On Saturday, Markus Caspers, a senior public prosecutor from the counterterrorism section of the Prosecutor’s Office, said authorities had not yet identified a specific motive for the attack.

“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, Caspers said.

Professor of Security Studies at King’s College in London, Peter Neumann, said the attack represented a “new wave” of terror.

“We are seeing the first signs of a new wave of terrorist attacks,” said Neumann, adding that IS “is trying to capitalize on the huge mobilization resulting from Hamas’s terror offensive on October 7, 2023, even though strictly speaking it had nothing to do with it. The kind of attack we saw in Solingen is exactly the kind of attack that [IS] is trying to inspire. It’s calling on people over the internet to attack ‘unbelievers’ using simple methods, like cars and knives. That way, it is trying to create an impression that [IS] is everywhere and could strike anytime.”

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser visited Solingen on Saturday and said the government would do everything possible to support the city.

“We will not allow such an awful attack to divide our society,” she said, appearing alongside Minister-President of the German State of North Rhine Westphalia Hendrik Wüst and State Minister for Internal Affairs Herbert Reul.

The “Festival of Diversity,” intended to celebrate the city’s 650th anniversary, was canceled after the attack took place in the middle of a crowd in front of one of the stages.

Solingen is home to 160,000 residents and is located near Cologne and Düsseldorf.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that the terrorist must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

“The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that has shocked me greatly. An attacker has brutally killed several people. I have just spoken to Solingen’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach. We mourn the victims and stand by their families,” Scholz wrote on 𝕏.

On Saturday morning, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Kurzbach, “The heinous act in Solingen shocks me and our country. We mourn those killed and worry about those injured and I wish them strength and a speedy recovery from all my heart.”