The incident comes four days after a 26-year-old Syrian man stabbed three people with a knife and injured eight during a holiday in the city of Solingen. Mersa is about 45 kilometers from Solingen.
Emergency services, which were called to the scene in Merse, said the man had “attacked and threatened several passers-by”, police in nearby Duisburg said.
The police found a 26-year-old German citizen who “attacked them with two knives in his hands”. The police shot the man, who “was mortally wounded,” but no other people were injured.
Germany is on high alert following Friday night’s attack in Solingen, which was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to tighten Germany’s gun laws, “especially with regard to the use of knives”, as he commemorated the victims of the Solingen attack on Monday.
The attack in Solingen has also fueled the debate on immigration and put further pressure on Scholz ahead of Sunday’s federal state elections.
The Solingen attacker had evaded attempts to deport him to Bulgaria, where he had first entered the European Union (EU). His asylum application in Germany was rejected.
Scholz said on Monday that Germany “will do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and must not remain in Germany are repatriated and deported.”
2024-08-28 16:17:37