Teen, 15, arrested in connection with horror attack in Germany in which three people died

A teenager has been arrested in connection with a knife attack in Germany in which three people were killed.

The stabbings occurred at a festival in the western German city of Solingen, about 30 kilometres east of Dusseldorf. In addition to claiming the lives of three people, two men aged 57 and 67, and a woman aged 56, eight other people were wounded, four of them seriously.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested earlier today. According to the Associated Press, police said the teen was not suspected to be the perpetrator, but was thought to have known about the planned attack and did not inform authorities.

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Markus Caspers, from the counterterrorism section of the public prosecutor’s office, told a news conference today that authorities have not found the perpetrator. “So far we have not been able to identify a motive, but looking at the overall circumstances, we cannot rule out” the possibility of terrorism, Mr Caspers said, though he did not offer further details.

Thorsten Fleiss from the German police, who was the chief of operations yesterday, said police are conducting various searches and investigations in the entire state of North Rhine Westphalia that will continue throughout the day. He said that it is a “big challenge” to bring together available evidence and testimony from witnesses in order to come up with a overall picture.

Police told people to stay vigilant even as wellwishers started to leave flowers at the scene. Authorities established an online portal where witnesses could upload footage and any other information relevant to the attack. People alerted police shortly after 9.30pm on Friday to an unknown attacker having wounded