Brussels - Berlin: Europe and Arabs - Agencies
The German court said that the man who killed three visitors to the city festival in Solingen, Germany, wanted to "kill as many infidels as possible." The 26-year-old Syrian asylum seeker had also joined the Islamic State group. But in reality, he did not have to stay in Germany for long. According to what was published by the media in the neighboring country Belgium this morning, and it covered more details about the incident, citing media reports and statements from the security and judicial authorities, it added: "On Friday evening, at exactly 9:37 p.m., Issa (26 years old) suddenly appeared in the Frauenhofplein square in Solingen, which was celebrating at that moment because the city had existed for 650 years. Issa violently stabbed in the crowd. He killed three people - a man and a woman aged 56 and a man aged 67 - and injured eight others. After the stabbing, he disappeared in the midst of the commotion.
The police immediately launched a search for the unknown perpetrator at the time. The streets were cordoned off, and patrols went from house to house. Without results. A 15-year-old boy was arrested on Saturday morning. He was not the perpetrator, but witnesses heard him talking to someone about the imminent attack immediately before the attack. He was of Kyrgyz origin and was staying in a refugee shelter.
It was 11 p.m. On Saturday, when a man approached a police patrol in Solingen. His clothes were wet from the rain and covered in blood. He said: "I am the person you are looking for." He surrendered and did not resist arrest. He is said to have been hiding all this time in a park somewhere near the scene of the events. Under heavy guard, Issa was taken by helicopter to the Karlsruhe court, where he was questioned by an investigating judge. An arrest warrant was issued. The terrorist organization ISIS had already announced on the Amaq media channel on Saturday that the perpetrator of the attack was a "soldier of the Islamic State" and that the attack was intended to avenge "Muslims in Palestine and the rest of the world." According to this report, the attack in Solingen was aimed at "groups of Christians." It is not yet clear whether he actually acted on behalf of the Islamic State. However, the case is being treated as a "terrorist act", and the perpetrator was arrested not only on charges of murder, but also of membership in a terrorist group. According to the court’s announcement, he joined the Islamic State at an unknown time: “Because of his radical Islamic beliefs, he decided to kill as many infidels as he could – in his opinion – at the city festival in Solingen.” According to the statement, he “repeatedly stabbed visitors in the neck and upper body with a knife.”
It is not yet clear whether the 26-year-old actually acted on behalf of ISIS. But the case is being treated as a “terrorist act.”
Issa was born 26 years ago in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. He is a Sunni Muslim and fled his country two years ago because the war was still raging there. In December 2022, he applied for asylum with the competent authorities in Bielefeld, about 160 kilometers north of Solingen.
He had entered the European Union via Bulgaria, it was found after examining the file. According to the Dublin Regulation, an asylum application must be processed by the state through which a refugee enters Europe. Germany therefore sent a request to Bulgaria to allow the young Syrian to be admitted and to hear his case. That state agreed.
He was supposed to be extradited to Bulgaria in June 2023, but that didn’t happen. He was no longer found at the Paderborn refugee center where the young Syrian was staying. He disappeared. No arrest warrant was issued for him when his application was rejected, because German prisons had no space for refugees awaiting deportation, and because he was not known to be “extremist” or “dangerous.”