26-year-old Syrian confesses to stabbing German man

• A 26-year-old Syrian man is in custody for a knife attack in Solingen.
• The Daesh group claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place in Fronhof.
• The arrest could heighten fears ahead of three regional elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg.

Authorities announced Sunday morning that a 26-year-old Syrian man was in custody in connection with a stabbing attack in the western German city of Solingen that left three people dead and eight injured. The suspect has surrendered and confessed to the crime, according to a joint statement from police and prosecutors in Düsseldorf.

“The involvement of this person is currently under full investigation,” they said.

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) on Friday evening in Fronhof, a market square where a festival celebrating Solingen's 650-year history is taking place with concerts. Mourners erected an improvised memorial near the scene of the attack.

The suspect's arrest could heighten fears ahead of three regional elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, where the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has a chance of winning.

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said the suspect came from a refugee shelter in Solingen that was raided on Saturday. According to Der Spiegel, citing unnamed security sources, the man arrived in Germany in late 2022, applied for asylum and had blood on his clothes. Police declined to comment on Der Spiegel's report.

German federal prosecutors have taken over the case and are investigating whether the suspect was a member of the Islamic State, a spokesman for the prosecution said. In a statement posted on its Telegram account Saturday, the group described the suspect as a “Daesh soldier” and said he carried out the attack “to take revenge on Muslims in Palestine and everywhere else.”

The group did not immediately provide evidence to support its claims, and it remains unclear how close the attacker was to Islamic State. On Saturday, Hendrik Wuest, the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, called the attack a terrorist act.

Since 2000, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has recorded a dozen Islamist-motivated attacks. One of the largest occurred in 2016, when a Tunisian man drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring dozens more. The BKA reported earlier this year that “the risk of jihadist-motivated acts of violence remains high. Terrorist organizations continue to directly target the Federal Republic of Germany.”