Solingen terror attack: Committee wants Reul to testify

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul is scheduled to testify before a state parliamentary committee on Friday, facing scrutiny over the 2024 Solingen terrorist attack. The committee is investigating potential errors and oversights related to the incident.

Reul recently reiterated his position that no evidence of accomplices or an Islamist network connected to the perpetrator, Issa al H., has been found. However, he acknowledged that the attacker's phone number was linked to an individual identified as an extremist allegedly planning an attack on the 2024 European Football Championship. Despite extensive checks, no communication between the two has been discovered, and al H. was considered to have a clean record with security authorities at the time of the attack, though some connections to Islamists existed without being directly related to the crime.

The attack occurred on August 23, 2024, when Issa al H. fatally stabbed three people and injured many others at a town festival in Solingen. The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the assault. The Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf subsequently sentenced the Syrian national to life imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention, a verdict that has since become final.

SPD representative Lisa Kapteinat announced that Minister Reul will have much to explain during his testimony. The investigation committee aims to determine if any mistakes or failures occurred before or during the attack, a critical juncture for understanding the security response.

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Minister Reul werde in seiner Vernehmung sehr viel erklären müssen, kündigte SPD-Obfrau Lisa Kapteinat an.