Police in Germany are searching for an unknown suspect behind a mass stabbing at a festival on Friday night that killed three and injured eight, five of them seriously.
The knife attack took place as thousands of people gathered at the central square in the city of Solingen in the country’s west during celebrations to mark its 650th anniversary, billed as a festival of diversity.
No one has been arrested and police said they had deployed a “large contingent” including a helicopter to search for the male assailant who fled the scene. Police declined to discuss a possible motive or speculate about the identity of the suspect.
Early on Saturday, police said they were still trying to track down the unknown assailant and said the number of seriously injured had risen from four to five. “Both victims and witnesses are currently being questioned. The police are currently searching for the perpetrator with a large team,” police said.
The German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said in a statement on Saturday morning: “We are deeply shocked by the brutal attack on the city festival in Solingen. Our security authorities are doing everything they can to catch the perpetrator and establish the background to the attack.”
She added: “The brutal attack on the city festival in Solingen has shocked us deeply. We mourn the people whose lives were snatched from them in such a terrible way. My thoughts are with the families of those killed and those seriously injured.”
A witness told the local newspaper Solinger Tageblatt on Friday night that he was a few metres from the attack, not far from a live-music stage, and “understood from the expression on the singer’s face that something was wrong”.
“And then, a metre away from me, a person fell,” said the man, Lars Breitzke, who at first thought it was someone who was drunk. But when he turned around, he saw other people lying on the ground and several pools of blood, he added.
There has been a series of knife attacks in Germany over the past 12 months, with Faeser previously promising to crack down on knife crime.
On Friday night, the 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 regional premier, Hendrik Wüst, posted earlier on X: “All of North Rhine-Westphalia stands with the people in Solingen, above all with the victims and their families.” He also thanked “the many rescue workers and our police who are in these minutes fighting for people’s lives”.
The attack happened at an event marking the city’s 650th anniversary and billed as a festival of diversity that began on Friday and was supposed to run through to Sunday. About 10,000 people attended, many gathering around a stage with live music on the Fronhof market square in the city centre.
Most of those wounded are believed to have been attacked directly in front of the stage, the daily Bild reported, adding that the man appeared to target the throats of his victims.
A police spokesperson said emergency services had received several calls at about 9.30pm 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,” the spokesperson said. “We hope to receive information about the assailant, particularly his appearance, so that we can make the manhunt more targeted.”
He 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.
Solinger Tageblatt reported that authorities called on people to leave central Solingen and that one of the festival organisers, Philipp Müller, said on a stage that emergency workers were fighting for the lives of nine people.
Rolling news channel NTV showed a video of Müller asking the crowd not to panic and to be careful leaving the premises because the attacker was still at large.
Witnesses said that people remained calm as they left the scene and media images later showed that the premises were empty apart from police and emergency vehicles. Armed officers were controlling the perimeter.
Solingen has about 160,000 inhabitants and is located near the bigger cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf. Festival organiser Mueller later told the Tageblatt that the rest of the festival would be cancelled. “We’ve just informed all the artists and stand operators,” he said.
The city’s mayor, Tim-Oliver Kurzbach, expressed “shock, horror and great sadness” at the attack.
“We all wanted to celebrate our city’s anniversary together and now we have to mourn the deaths and injuries.
“It breaks my heart that there was an attack on our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives.
“I also have great sympathy with all the people who had to witness this; it must have been a terrible sight. I thank all the rescue and security forces for their efforts. I ask you, if you believe, to pray with me and if not, to hope with me.”
Serap Güler, an MP of the centre-right CDU party, called it “terrible, horrible what happened in Solingen”.
“Above all I wish that the wounded victims of this terrible attack survive, and wish strength to their loved ones. Hopefully the perpetrator will be captured quickly. My thoughts are with all those who are on the scene,” she posted on X.
The attack occurred amid a heated political debate about rising knife violence in German cities.
In May, German police shot and wounded a man who injured six people in a knife attack on a rightwing demonstration in the south-western city of Mannheim. Among the victims was a 29-year-old policeman who intervened and was fatally stabbed.
