Syrian suspect pleads guilty in German stabbing

Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement on Sunday that the suspect turned himself in late Saturday and admitted to the crime.

The suspect was arrested by police on August 25, 2024. Photo: Reuters

German federal prosecutors identified the Syrian man as Issa Al H., not giving his last name due to German privacy laws, and said he was suspected of being a member of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization – the group that claimed responsibility for the attack.

Prosecutors said that "driven by his radical Islamic beliefs" he tried to kill as many people as possible whom he considered non-believers, stabbing them multiple times in the neck and upper body.

Friedrich Merz, a prominent politician who leads the centre-right opposition CDU party, said the country should stop accepting more refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. “Enough!” he wrote in a letter posted on his website.

North Rhine-Westphalia state Interior Minister Herbert Reul said the suspect came from a refugee home in Solingen that was searched after the incident.

Der Spiegel magazine, citing unnamed security sources, said the suspect moved to Germany in late 2022 and sought asylum.

The IS group described the man who carried out the attack as a “soldier of the Islamic State” in a statement on its Telegram account on Saturday.

On Sunday, the group posted two clips on its Telegram account of what it said was the attacker. The first clip allegedly shows the masked man pledging allegiance to the Islamic State leader, and the second clip, in which his face is blurred, allegedly shows him speaking minutes before the attack.

Hendrik Wuest, the premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Solingen is located, described the attack as an act of terrorism on Saturday.

Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) says there have been about a dozen Islamist-motivated attacks since 2000. One of the biggest occurred in 2016, when a Tunisian drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring dozens more.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters, CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nghi-pham-nguoi-syria-nhan-toi-trong-vu-dam-dao-nghiem-trong-o-duc-post309242.html