A jihadist motive has been confirmed behind the attack in Solingen, which left three dead and eight injured. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement from its media department, stating: “The attacker at yesterday’s Christian gathering in the German city of Solingen was a soldier of the Islamic State.” The attack was allegedly carried out in response to the situation of “Muslims in Palestine.” Furthermore, according to a police report cited by Welt am Sonntag, a witness heard the attacker shout “Allahu Akbar,” God is great, as he attacked the victims. One of the injured reportedly told authorities that he recognized the attacker, claiming that he was a regular at a local mosque.
This same person, currently wanted throughout Germany, was allegedly heard saying the following sentence to the 15-year-old arrested in the last few hours: “Today I will stab everyone!”The teenager is accused of failing to report the crime after he learned of it. According to Spiegel, the boy, who was taken from a refugee shelter, is from Kyrgyzstan and is not cooperating with the authorities. North Rhine-Westphalia’s prime minister, Hendrik Wüst, arrived in Solingen late on Saturday afternoon. “The attack was intended to spread terror” and was aimed “against the security and freedom of our country and also against the way we live here.” The attacker “has struck at the heart of our country. Terrorism should shake our way of life, but,” the CDU representative continued, “our country is not wavering.” Wüst added: “We will not allow ourselves to be intimidated by terror and hatred, we will defend our way of life.”
