SOLINGEN: Three people were killed and four others seriously injured in a knife attack at a festival on Friday night in the western German city of Solingen, police said.
They said that at around 10:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT) a single unidentified man attacked several people and that the perpetrator was still at large.
“It breaks my heart that an attack has taken place in our city. I am brought to tears when I think of the people we have lost,” Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach said in a statement. “I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives.”
In Germany, fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively rare.
Police said the attack occurred during a festival to mark the city's 650th anniversary.
Solingen is located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state in Germany and bordering the Netherlands.
State Interior Minister Herbert Reul visited the scene and told reporters it was a targeted attack on human lives, but declined to speculate on a motive.
The attack took place in Fronhof, according to the mayor's statement, a market square where live bands were playing.
The German government has decided to tighten the rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the permitted length.
In June, a 29-year-old police officer was stabbed to death in the German city of Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration.
