German festival stabbing… French synagogue fire… Europe’s terror fears on the rise

by times news cr

A state of emergency has been declared across Europe as suspected terrorist attacks have occurred in several major European countries, including Germany and France.

On the 23rd, at least three people were killed and eight were injured in a knife attack by an unknown assailant in Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. A day later, the Sunni extremist militant group Islamic State (IS) claimed in a statement that “IS soldiers carried out the attack in revenge for Palestine and Muslims around the world.” However, no separate evidence or data was provided for this.

On the 25th, German police arrested a 26-year-old Syrian man who came to Germany in December 2022 as a suspect. The man confessed to the crime to the authorities. However, the exact motive for the crime is not yet known.

According to dpa and other news agencies, at around 9:45 p.m. on the 23rd, a man wielding a knife and other weapons stormed into the 650th anniversary celebration of the city’s founding at Fronhof Square in Solingen and began swinging his weapon indiscriminately. As a result, a total of three people died, including a man in his 50s, a man in his 60s, and a woman in her 50s. The police stated, “The perpetrator deliberately targeted the victims’ necks and attacked them.”

Solingen, near Cologne, is a small town with a population of about 160,000. It has been famous for sword making since the Middle Ages and currently has several sword manufacturing facilities and a sword museum.

On the 24th, a mysterious fire broke out at the Bet Yaakov synagogue in Grande Motte, near Montpellier in southern France. Two cars parked nearby were set ablaze and one of them exploded. A police officer at the scene was also injured in the car explosion.

Initial investigations by the authorities indicate that the explosion started from a gasoline bottle inside the car. In particular, the suspect arrested by the authorities that day was found to be carrying a Palestinian flag and a gun at the time of the crime. Since the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas broke out in October last year, attacks targeting Jewish people have been occurring in succession throughout Europe, including France.

French President Emmanuel Macron has described the incident as an “act of terrorism.” He told X that he would “do everything possible to find the perpetrators and protect places of worship,” and vowed to punish anti-Semitic attacks.

Reporter Ha Jeong-min [email protected]

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2024-08-25 19:32:26

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