A person has been detained in connection with a knife attack in Germany which left three people dead and five seriously injured.
It comes following a “large-scale” overnight manhunt around the city of Solingen, involving several police forces.
Police were alerted by witnesses shortly after 9.30pm local time on Friday, to reports of several people being wounded in a central square, the Fronhof, during a festival.
On Saturday afternoon, officers announced they had detained a person and said they were investigating whether there is a connection with the attack.
Searches are also under way at various locations, they said. “The investigation and manhunt for possible further perpetrators and reasons for the crime are in full swing.”
Earlier in the day, police issued a warning urging people to stay vigilant, even as well-wishers started to leave flowers at the scene.
DJ and music producer Topic, who was performing at the festival, said he was on stage and asked to continue performing “to avoid mass panic” as the incident unfolded.
Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is near the bigger city of Dusseldorf and Germany‘s border with the Netherlands.
Police have said they believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker. Information about the identities of the victims has not yet been released.
The region’s top security official, Herbert Reul, who visited the scene in the early hours of Saturday, told reporters it was a targeted attack on human life but declined to speculate on the motive.
The Festival of Diversity, marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was supposed to continue over the weekend, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics. It has now been cancelled.
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