German police detain one person in possible link with stabbing attack

German police said on Saturday that they have detained a person and are investigating whether there is a possible link to a knife attack in the western German city of Solingen late on Friday that killed three and injured others earlier.

The arrested person was a 15-year-old, the police said at a press conference.

"The investigation and manhunt for possible further perpetrators and reasons for the crime are in full swing," the police said.

The incident occurred around 9:40 p.m. (1940 GMT) on Friday, when the man attacked multiple people with a knife, the police said, adding that the motive remained unclear.

A terror motive has not been excluded in the festival knife attack, said an official with the German public prosecutor's office in Duesseldorf. "We have not been able to identify a motive for now, but in view of all of the circumstances, we are working under the assumption that the initial suspicion of a terrorist motive cannot be excluded."

According to the German newspaper Bild, the arrested person's appearance did not match the attacker's description given by witnesses at the scene. 

"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.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said security authorities were doing everything they could to catch the person and investigate the background to the attack, which 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.

Police cordoned off the square on Saturday, and passersby placed candles and flowers outside the barricades.

"We are full of shock and grief," Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach told journalists on Saturday morning.

(With input from agencies)