Three dead and several injured at Diversity Festival in Germany

Three people have An attack on a celebration marking the 650th anniversary of the city of Solingen left 24 people dead and several others injured, local news reported on Friday.

According to the newspaper Solingen Daily NewspaperAccording to reports, the attacker apparently used a knife and one of the festival organizers, Philipp Müller, said on stage at the event that rescue workers were fighting for the lives of nine people.

There were no arrests, the news agency reported. According to eyewitnesses, the suspect fled.

During a press conference, a police spokesman said that they “currently assume that this was a deliberate attack.” However, when asked whether the tragedy was a terrorist attack, the spokesman replied with a warning: “That would be pure speculation. I cannot say that at the moment.”

“All of us in Solingen are full of shock, horror and great sadness this evening. We all wanted to celebrate our city's birthday together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured,” wrote Solingen's mayor Tim Kurzbach on social media. He said he had “tears in his eyes” [his] Eyes” over the lost.

In a statement released to X, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote: “Hopefully the rescue workers will succeed in saving the injured who are still alive and the police will be able to catch the cowardly and pathetic perpetrator while he is on the run.”

Björn Boch, deputy editor of the Solinger Tageblatt, spoke BBC on Friday and said the celebrations were “supposed to last three days, and the city was expecting 25,000 people every night. The city was just packed with people.”

Accordingly Solingen Daily NewspaperThe festival was cancelled and the authorities asked the residents of Solingen to leave the city centre.

This is an evolving story.