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Multiple Dead after Stabbing Attack at Festival in Western Germany

Police in Berlin, Germany, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
Police in Berlin, Germany, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
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Multiple Dead after Stabbing Attack at Festival in Western Germany

Police in Berlin, Germany, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
Police in Berlin, Germany, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

Multiple people were killed and others wounded in a stabbing attack at a festival on Friday night in the western German city of Solingen, police confirmed.

Bild newspaper reported a man knifed passers-by at random at the festival at around 9:45 p.m. (1945 GMT) and that at least three people were dead and multiple wounded.

Witnesses said the perpetrator was at large, the paper said, Reuters reported.

The mayor of the city confirmed there were dead and injured due to an attack, but did not go into details.

"It tears my heart apart that there was an attack on our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives," Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach said in a statement.

The police said the attack occurred at a festival to honor the town's 650th anniversary.

"There are multiple dead and injured due to a knife attack," the police said in a post on X.

Local police said they could not comment over the phone.

The attack occurred at the Fronhof, the mayor's statement said, a market square where live bands were playing.

Solingen is in North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany's most populous and bordering the Netherlands.

Fatal stabbings and shootings in Germany are relatively uncommon.

In June, a 29-year-old policeman died after being stabbed in the German city of Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration.

There was a stabbing attack on a train in 2021, injuring several.

The German government has been aiming to toughen rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the length allowed.

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Philippines Says its Fisheries Plane Was Threatened By Flares Fired From a Chinese Island Base

Philippine patrol aircraft (Philippine media)
Philippine patrol aircraft (Philippine media)
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Philippines Says its Fisheries Plane Was Threatened By Flares Fired From a Chinese Island Base

Philippine patrol aircraft (Philippine media)
Philippine patrol aircraft (Philippine media)

A Philippine fisheries bureau plane was threatened by flares fired from a Chinese island base while conducting a routine patrol in the South China Sea, Philippine officials said Saturday.
It's the latest territorial spat between Beijing and Manila over one of the world’s busiest trade routes, with confrontations spreading from the disputed waters to the airspace above, The Associated Press said.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ Cessna 208B Grand Caravan plane was flying near Subi Reef on Thursday when it spotted flares being fired from the fishing atoll, which has been transformed by China into a militarized island base, a Philippine government interagency task force said in a statement.
No other details were provided, including the distance of the flares from the Philippine plane and if it proceeded with its patrol to monitor for poachers in the internationally recognized exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
The same Philippine fisheries plane was subjected to “harassment” on Aug. 19 when a Chinese air force fighter jet “engaged in irresponsible and dangerous maneuvers, deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 meters (yards)” near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine task force said.
"The Chinese fighter jet was not provoked, yet its actions demonstrated hazardous intent that jeopardized the safety of the personnel onboard the BFAR aircraft,” according to the task force, which includes the Department of National Defense, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine coast guard.
Chinese officials did not immediately issue any reaction, but they have accused Philippine ships and aircraft of encroaching into what they said was Chinese territory in the sea passage.
“We firmly reiterate our call on the government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions that threaten the safety of Philippine vessels and aircraft engaged in legitimate and regular activities within Philippine territory and exclusive economic zone,” the Philippine task force said. "Such actions undermine regional peace and security and further erode the image of the PRC with the international community."
In a separate Aug. 8 dispute over the Scarborough Shoal, Philippine officials said two Chinese jets flew dangerously close and fired a volley of flares in the path of a Philippine air force patrol plane. It was the first such aerial encounter since high-seas hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea began heating up in 2023.
Philippine military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. did not report any injuries or damage then, but condemned the Chinese actions, which he said could have had tragic consequences. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila eventually filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing.
“If the flares came into contact with our aircraft, these could have been blown into the propeller or the intake or burned our plane,” Brawner told reporters. “It was very dangerous.”
The Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army said that a Philippine air force aircraft illegally entered the airspace above the Scarborough, which China also claims, disrupting its combat training activities at the time.
The command said it sent jets and ships to identify, track and drive away the Philippine aircraft, and warned the Philippines to “stop its infringement, provocation, distortion and hyping-up."
The United States, Australia and Canada have reported similar actions by Chinese air force aircraft in the South China Sea, where those nations have deployed forces to promote freedom of navigation and overflight.
China has bristled at military deployments by the US and its allies in the disputed region, calling it a danger to regional security.