Three dead after stabbing attack at festival in western Germany By Reuters

SOLINGEN, Germany (Reuters) -Three people were killed and three others seriously wounded in a stabbing attack at a festival on Friday night in the western German city of Solingen, police said.

They said that at around 10 p.m. (1800 GMT) a single, unidentified man attacked multiple people.

Bild newspaper quoted witnesses as saying the perpetrator was still at large.

“It tears my heart apart that there was an attack on our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives,” Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach said in a statement.

The police said the attack occurred at a festival to honour the town’s 650th anniversary.

“There are multiple dead and injured due to a knife attack,” the police said in a post on X.

Local police said they could not comment over the phone.

The attack occurred at the Fronhof, the mayor’s statement said, a market square where live bands were playing.

Solingen is in North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany’s most populous and bordering the Netherlands.

Fatal stabbings and shootings in Germany are relatively uncommon.

In June, a 29-year-old policeman died after being stabbed in the German city of Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration.

There was a stabbing attack on a train in 2021, injuring several.

The German government has been aiming to toughen rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the length allowed.