Karlsruhe, 25 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Germany's highest prosecuting authority, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, has taken over the investigation into the knife attack in the western town of Solingen that left three people dead.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office told dpa that it was investigating a main suspect, who handed himself in, on suspicion of membership of the terrorist militia Islamic State. Islamic State previously said that one of its members carried out the stabbing.

German police detained what they described as a "real suspect" in connection with the knife attack in Solingen that left three people dead, North Rhine Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul told broadcaster ARD on Saturday night.

Police said the suspect had admitted responsibility for the attack, and was currently being questioned.

The attack took place on Friday evening at a market square in the city centre where a stage was set up for live music during the Festival of Diversity, which was being thrown to celebrate Solingen's 650th anniversary.

Those killed in the attack were two men, aged 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman. Eight other people were wounded, four of them seriously, according to local police chief Thorsten Fleiss. The attacker apparently chose his victims at random but appeared to target their necks, Fleiss said.

MIA file photo