After a knife attack on a car driver in Stolberg in the Rhineland, German investigators are examining an Islamist background and a possible connection with the local elections on Sunday in North Rhine-Westphalia. After the arrest of a 21-year-old suspect yesterday evening, the public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf took over the case, the authorities said.
The exact background of the event was initially unclear. According to the investigators, the 21-year-old is said to have seriously injured a 23-year-old driver with a knife on the night of yesterday. According to witnesses, he is said to have shouted „Allahu Akbar“ (God is great).
Election poster possible background
The investigators also followed up on indications that the suspect with a migrant background might have attacked the 23-year-old German, also with a migrant background, in connection with a political advertising motif on which the victim’s father and other people could be recognized.
According to unconfirmed reports, this could be an advertising medium by the right-wing populist party AfD. According to the investigators, the father of the victim stated during his questioning that he had not consented to the use of the corresponding photo motif and had also not known anything about it.
Victim operated on
According to the police, the victim was operated on in a clinic. The suspect was after a manhunt in the early evening in Stolberg by special police forces arrested during an access in a car.
Another 26-year-old vehicle occupant was initially arrested, but according to the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office, he is only a witness in the case. The two men and an officer were injured in the attack.
