A 26-year-old Syrian migrant who was allegedly set to be deported from Germany last year surrendered to police there Sunday and said he was behind the knife attack at a local festival that left three dead.
The man, who was only identified as Issa Al H., confessed to pulling off the Islamic State-backed attack Friday against festival-goers celebrating the 650th anniversary of the city of Solingen, authorities said.
Prosecutors said that the suspected ISIS member attempted to kill as many people as possible that day “due to his radical Islamist convictions.”
Officials confirmed that the suspect had applied for asylum in Germany, with the local DPA news agency claiming that his request had been denied and that he was set to be deported last year.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, said the suspect lived in a home for refugees in Solingen. But the full details of his immigration status have yet to be revealed.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying one of its soldiers terrorized the people of Solingen “in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
The horror claimed the lives of two men, ages 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman, according to officials, who said the stabber deliberately aimed for the victims’ throats. Among the eight hurt, four were “very seriously injured” and in the hospital, police added.
Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) previously warned that “jihadist-motivated” terror attacks were a threat to the nation, which has taken in more than a million refugees from Syria and Afghanistan in recent years.
“The risk of jihadist-motivated acts of violence remains high,” the BKA said in a report earlier this year. “The Federal Republic of Germany remains a direct target of terrorist organizations.”
The terrorist attack ignited discussions over the need for Germany to enhance its security, limit immigration and employ stiffer punishments for violent crimes.
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the center-right CDU party said the attack was clear evidence that Germany should stop taking in refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.
“It’s enough!” he wrote in a statement.
The stabbing occurred just two months after Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed that Germany would begin to deport criminals from those two nations after a knife attack by an Afghan migrant left a police officer dead.
With Post wires
