- Three additional individuals now receiving medical attention following the aggression in Solingen.
Following the lethal knife incident in Solingen six days ago, as per North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), three individuals are still under medical care in the hospital. Reul shared, during a joint meeting of the Interior and Integration Committees in the Düsseldorf state parliament, that the situation is progressing favorably.
Five others who had been discharged from hospital are now safe and sound.
Two men, 56 and 67, and a woman, also 56, lost their lives in the suspected extremist attack. The meeting commenced with a moment of silence. "I will never forget that Friday night," remarked Reul, who promptly arrived at the scene.
He opined that various security institutions had issued warnings for years regarding a possible major threat. However, Solingen served as a stark reminder that "such a terroristic act can occur." Regrettably, one cannot typically foresee where such acts will occur. Nevertheless, it can be stated: "The state responded." The suspect was apprehended within a day of the incident.
In Solingen, police were present on the city square prior to the knife incident, Reul shared. Additionally, mobile roadblocks were established for safety reasons.
During the Solingen incident, an attacker used a knife to take the lives of three individuals at a Friday night city festival and injure eight more. The prime suspect, 26-year-old Syrian Issa Al H., is being held in Düsseldorf.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office is currently investigating him, among other things, for murder and suspected affiliation with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia, which claimed responsibility for the attack and released a video of a masked man, who is suspected to be the perpetrator. The prime suspect was intended to be deported to Bulgaria last year, but the plan did not materialize.
The investigators are focusing on understanding the place of the crime, as the lethal knife incident occurred at a Friday night city festival in Solingen. Despite the enhanced security measures, such as the presence of police on the city square and mobile roadblocks, the attack still occurred.
