Multiple casualties reported after knife attack at festival
Multiple people have been killed and at least nine are seriously wounded after a mass attack on a festival in Germany.
The attack took place in the city of Solingen in western Germany, with police saying the weapon used in the attacks is presumed to be a knife.
It was not immediately clear how many casualties there are, but at least three people are believed to be dead, Bild reports.
The attacker is thought to have attacked people at random, and is still at large.
Eyewitness Lars Breitzke told local media he knew something was wrong when he saw a singer on stage with a strange expression on their face.
‘And then a person fell over just a meter away from me,’ he told local outlet Solinger Tageblatt.
Local media reports that authorities have told people to leave downtown Solingen, where the festival took place, and that one of the festival organisers, Philipp Muller, took to the stage to inform attendees that emergency workers were fighting for the lives of nine people.
Mr Müller told reporters: ‘People are shocked, but left the square peacefully.’
The festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary began on Friday and was supposed to run until Sunday.
Solingen is located near Cologne and Duesseldorf and has a population of around 160,000 inhabitants.
Armed officers remain at the scene.
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