German police have arrested a suspect in a stabbing rampage in the western city of Solingen that killed three people and injured eight.
The suspect, a 26-year-old Syrian man, turned himself in and admitted to the crime, Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement on Sunday.
“The involvement of this person is currently under intensive investigation,” they said.
The attack – claimed by ISIL (ISIS), which is yet to be verified – took place on Friday evening at a festival to celebrate Solingen’s 650th anniversary.
Late on Saturday, a state official speaking on German television announced the arrest of a man whom he said authorities had been searching for in the 24 hours since the attack.
The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, Herbert Reul, told the ARD broadcaster that he was “a bit relieved” after authorities spent the day following a “hot lead” that led to the arrest.
Police spent the day conducting a manhunt, making two arrests that were likely not the perpetrator, Reul said.
“The real suspect is the one that we’ve arrested just now,” he said. The individual is being questioned and evidence was seized, he said, adding that the man was affiliated with a home for refugees that had been searched earlier in the day.
Aljazeera
