German police are searching for an unknown assailant who killed three and wounded eight people in a knife attack at a festival in Solingen.
The police say that five people were seriously injured.
“The victims and witnesses are currently being interrogated. The police are looking for the perpetrator,” the police announced.
The incident happened last night around 9:40 p.m., when a man attacked several people with a knife.
The police stated that the attacker particularly attacked the victims in the neck area, and the motive is being determined.
As the “Bild” newspaper writes, the man deliberately stabbed his victims in the neck with a knife.
“For this reason, the investigators are now classifying the crime as a terrorist attack,” the newspaper writes.
Special police teams, equipped with heavy weapons, patrolled the streets, as a large-scale search for the attacker was underway.
Police in Solingen have asked the public to avoid the city center and stay off the streets while the operation takes place.
The attack happened at a festival marking the 650th anniversary of Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, which borders the Netherlands.
Authorities have canceled events scheduled for the weekend.
Provincial Interior Minister Herbert Reul told reporters this morning that it was a targeted attack, but declined to speculate on a motive.
