Daesh claims responsibility for knife attack in Solingen, Germany that killed 3

1 / 3
Police and ambulances near the scene where people were killed and injured in an attack at a festival in Solingen, western Germany. (dpa via AP)
Short Url
Updated 24 August 2024
Follow

Daesh claims responsibility for knife attack in Solingen, Germany that killed 3

  • Police say still hunting suspect in Germany knife attack
  • The city of 160,000 residents was holding its “Festival of Diversity” to mark the city’s 650th anniversary

SOLINGEN, Germany: Daesh on Saturday claimed responsibility for a knife attack in Solingen, Germany that killed three people and wounded eight others, according to its Amaq news site.
The group said the attacker targeted Christians and is a “soldier of the Islamic State” who carried out the attack “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
Police began raiding a home for asylum seekers in the city center of Solingen, including with special forces, the German news agency DPA reported.
“We have received tips and therefore we are currently conducting police activities,” a police spokesperson said.
Special police units had joined the search for the unknown knifeman who cut the throats of revelers at a crowded festival in the western German city, killing three people and wounding at least eight others, four of them seriously.
A 15-year-old boy was arrested early Saturday. Police said he was suspected of knowing about the planned attack and failing to inform authorities, but he was not the attacker.
Markus Caspers, from the counterterrorism section of the public prosecutors office, told a news conference on Saturday that authorities have not found the perpetrator.
“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, though he did not offer further details.
The three people who died were two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman, authorities said. Police said the attacker appeared to have deliberately aimed for his victims’ throats.
Thorsten Fleiss from the German police, who was the chief of operations on Friday night, said that police are conducting various searches and investigations in the entire state of North Rhine Westphalia that will continue throughout the day.
He said that it is a “big challenge” to bring together available evidence and testimony from witnesses in order to come up with a overall picture.
Fleiss also said that police have found several knives but added that he was unable to confirm whether any of them have been used as weapon by the perpetrator during the attack.

Police warned people to stay vigilant even as well wishers started to leave flowers at the scene. Authorities established an online portal where witnesses could upload footage and any other information relevant to the attack.
Churches in Solingen have opened their doors to offer a space for prayer and emergency pastoral care.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser paid a visit to Solingen on Saturday evening. She said that the government would do everything possible to support the city and the people Solingen.
“We will not allow that such an awful attack divides 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.
Wüst described the attack as “an act of terror against the security and freedom of this country.” But Faeser, the country’s top security official, hasn’t classified it as a “terror attack.”
Reul announced that the planned visit of the interior minister to the crime scene wouldn’t take place because of the ongoing police operation in the affected areas of the city. He pleaded with the public to “give time to the police” so that they can do their work. He also said that police presence would be increased at larger events, especially because the perpetrator hasn’t been caught yet.
People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday to an unknown attacker having wounded several people with a knife on a central square, the Fronhof.
“Last night our hearts were torn apart. We in Solingen are full of horror and grief. What happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep,” the mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, said, speaking to reporters on Saturday near the scene of the attack.
The “Festival of Diversity,” marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.
The attack took place in the crowd in front of one stage. Hours after the attack, the stage lights were still on as police and forensic investigators looked for clues in the cordoned-off square. The rest of the festival was canceled.
Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is located near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.
Caspers told the news conference that the 15-year-old boy was arrested after two female witnesses contacted police. They said they had listened to a conversation between the boy and an unknown person before the attack, speaking about intentions that corresponded to the events that followed.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that the perpetrator must be caught quickly and punished with the full force 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 said on X.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke to Kurzbach on Saturday morning.
“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,” Steinmeier said in a statement on Saturday.
“The perpetrator needs to be brought to justice. Let’s stand together — against hatred and violence.”
There has been concern about increased knife violence in Germany, and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to 6 centimeters (nearly 2.4 inches) to be carried in public, rather than the length of 12 centimeters (4.7 inches) that is currently allowed.


Russia accuses Zelensky of making ‘direct threat’ to May 9 events

Updated 11 sec ago
Follow

Russia accuses Zelensky of making ‘direct threat’ to May 9 events

“He is threatening the physical safety of veterans,” Zakharova said

MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday accused Volodymyr Zelensky of threatening the security of its World War II commemorations on May 9, after the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would not “take responsibility” for ensuring safety on the day.
“He is threatening the physical safety of veterans who will come to parades and celebrations on the holy day,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. “His statement ... is, of course, a direct threat.”

Terminally ill Syrian woman permitted to enter UK after govt U-turn

Updated 3 min 33 sec ago
Follow

Terminally ill Syrian woman permitted to enter UK after govt U-turn

  • Soaad Al-Shawa has been given weeks to live by doctors
  • She was initially denied request to see her daughter and son-in-law who fled Syria in 2015

LONDON: A Syrian woman dying of cancer will travel to the UK to see her grandchildren, whom she has never met, after a UK Home Office decision.

Soaad Al-Shawa, who has liver cancer and has been given just weeks to live by doctors, was initially denied a family-reunion request by the UK government, The Guardian reported.

She had asked to travel to Britain to meet up with her daughter Ola Al-Hamwi, son-in-law Mostafa Amonajid, and their three children, aged seven, five and one.

The family fled Syria in 2015 — unable to take Al-Shawa with them — and now reside in Glasgow. Since then. Al-Shawa has only communicated with her grandchildren via video calls.

She received a terminal cancer diagnosis late last year, and her daughter applied for a refugee family reunion in the UK, which was rejected. The family appealed and, in April, an immigration judge agreed to overturn the decision.

However, the UK Home Office later sought permission to appeal the judge’s ruling, in a move that may have taken at least eight months.

Al-Shawa may not have that long to live, with her daughter saying at the time that the decision was “breaking her heart.” Now, the Home Office has told the family’s lawyer it is withdrawing the decision, meaning Al-Shawa can travel to the UK, and that it will also expedite the issuing of a visa for her.

Al-Hamwi hopes that the visa will be processed in Jordan this weekend, and that her husband can travel there to collect her mother. Refugees cannot return to the country they fled from neither Al-Hamwi and Amonajid are able to enter Syria.

Al-Hamwi said: “My mum really perked up when she heard the news and started to eat more. All she wants to do before she dies is to see us and the kids.”

Amonajid said: “I appreciate the Home Office for listening to Ola and me. The kids are so excited they are finally going to meet their grandmother. She will be sleeping in their bedroom and they are fighting over who will sleep next to her.”

The family’s solicitor, Usman Aslam of Mukhtar & Co, said: “We welcome the Home Office decision to withdraw from this case and, moreover, to assist in expediting it.

“We now hope that a daughter and mother can spend whatever time the mother has left together. Refugees are no different from anyone else. They, too, have lives, families and dignity.”


Pakistan test fires ballistic missile as tensions with India spike after Kashmir gun massacre

Updated 03 May 2025
Follow

Pakistan test fires ballistic missile as tensions with India spike after Kashmir gun massacre

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan test-fired Saturday a ballistic missile as tensions with India spiked over last week’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region.
The surface-to-surface missile has a range of 450 kilometers (about 280 miles), the Pakistani military said.
The launch of the Abdali Weapon System was aimed at ensuring the “operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters,” including the missile’s advanced navigation system and enhanced manoeuvrability features, according to a statement from the military.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the scientists, engineers and those behind the successful missile test.


Russia declares state of emergency at port after Ukrainian drone attack on Novorossiysk

Updated 03 May 2025
Follow

Russia declares state of emergency at port after Ukrainian drone attack on Novorossiysk

  • There was no immediate comment from Ukraine

MOSCOW: The mayor of the Russian port city of Novorossiysk declared a state of emergency on Saturday after he said a Ukrainian drone attack had damaged residential buildings and injured at least five people, including two children.
Andrei Kravchenko, the mayor, announced his decision on his official Telegram account which showed him inspecting the damage to apartment buildings and giving orders to officials.
Kravchenko said one of the injured people, a woman, was in hospital in a serious situation.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, whose air force said Russia had attacked Ukraine overnight with 183 drones and two ballistic missiles.


US worker safety agency notifies employees of firings

Updated 03 May 2025
Follow

US worker safety agency notifies employees of firings

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration sent termination notices late on Friday to employees of a worker health and safety agency that provides research and services for coal miners, firefighters and others, despite appeals by a lawmaker from Trump’s Republican Party to preserve its programs.
Employees of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health received reduction-in-force notices that said the job losses were necessary to reshape the workforce of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a copy of the notices reviewed by Reuters.
Nearly all NIOSH employees were placed on administrative leave in February but around 40 who worked on coal-mining and firefighter safety were asked to return temporarily to work several days ago, the union for the agency’s employees said. At least two of those employees have now been notified of termination.
US Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, had lobbied Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restore the programs, including the coal-focused work of its Morgantown, West Virginia, office.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees NIOSH, did not immediately respond to a request for comment after regular business hours. A spokesperson earlier this week said NIOSH’s functions would join the new Administration for a Healthy America, alongside multiple agencies. It was not clear whether any of the terminated employees would be transferred elsewhere.
Reuters reported last month that the halting of NIOSH’s key services ended vital health and safety programs for coal miners, such as mobile health and lung screenings, and a program to relocate miners afflicted with black lung disease to less dusty parts of a mine.
There has been a resurgence of black lung disease in the last decade, including among young coal miners. At the same time, President Donald Trump has led a high-profile campaign to revive coal mining and use, which had been declining in the US.