FRANKFURT - Police hunted on Saturday for an unknown assailant hours after he killed three people and wounded others in a stabbing attack at a festival in the western German city of Solingen.
Eight were injured, five of them seriously, the police said in a statement early on Saturday. That was up from the four serious injuries the police reported earlier.
"Both victims and witnesses are currently being questioned. The police are currently searching for the perpetrator with a large team," police said.
The incident occurred around 9:40 pm (1940 GMT) on Friday, when the man attacked multiple people with a knife, the police said, adding that the motive remained unclear.
ALSO READ: 2 police officers seriously injured amid clashes in German city of Essen
"The perpetrator must be quickly caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a post on X.
Germany's interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said security authorities were doing everything they could to catch the person and investigate the background to the attack.
The attack occurred at the Fronhof, a market square in Solingen where live bands were playing. It was during a festival marking the 650th anniversary of the city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders the Netherlands.
The German musician who goes by the name Topic said he was playing on a nearby stage when the incident occurred. He was told about what happened but was asked to continue "to avoid causing a mass panic attack", he posted on Instagram.
He was eventually told to stop, and "since the attacker was still on the run, we hid in a nearby store while police helicopters circled above us," Topic wrote.
Authorities canceled the remainder of the weekend festival.
The perpetrator aimed specifically for peoples' throats, one police spokesperson said. A second spokesperson later wouldn't confirm or deny that detail, and pointed to a news conference scheduled for the afternoon.
READ MORE: Crime in Germany soars to highest level since 2016, police says
Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively uncommon in Germany. The government said earlier this month it wanted to toughen rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the maximum length allowed.
In June, a 29-year-old policeman died after being stabbed in Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration. A stabbing attack on a train in 2021 injured several.
North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister, Herbert Reul, visited the scene early on Saturday. He told reporters it was a targeted attack on human life but declined to speculate on the motive.
