Three dead in knife attack on German festival 

SOLINGEN, Aug 24: German police on Saturday stepped up a major hunt for a man who stabbed three people to death and wounded eight others at a street festival in the city of Solingen, authorities said.

Police closed off the centre of Solingen after the attack on Friday night at the city's "Festival of Diversity". A police statement said five of the wounded were in "serious" condition.

Special forces were helping security personnel in the city centre while a helicopter flew overhead, according to an AFP journalist.
"Our security authorities are doing everything they can to catch the perpetrator" of the "horrific act", Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying he "must be caught quickly and punished".    —AFP