SOLINGEN  –  A Syrian man has turned himself in and confessed to stabbing three people to death and wounding eight others at a festival in the western German city of Solingen last Friday, police said. The investigation is looking into whether the 26-year-old suspect had any connection to a “terrorist organization,” a spokesperson at Germany’s top prosecutor’s office told CNN. The suspect will appear before a judge in Karlsruhe on Sunday.

It comes after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack through its Amaq news service. However, it offered no evidence to back up its claim. The suspect was detained at a refugee shelter following a major manhunt which saw authorities establish “extensive search measures” throughout the German state of North Rhine Westphalia and deploy special forces. Police had earlier arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the incident, but said he was not the alleged attacker.

North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister Herbert Reul told German public broadcaster ARD: “We have just recently arrested the real suspect. And now he’s being questioned and everything else is being clarified and then we can also say: Are we right? Do we have enough evidence? I can only tell you that it’s now more than just an assumption.”

During the manhunt, Solingen residents had been warned to exercise caution and be on alert while the perpetrator remained on the run. For hours after the attack, authorities had struggled to identify the attacker. Those killed have been revealed as two men aged 67 and 56, and a woman aged 56. Eight others were injured, including four with life-threatening injuries.

A police spokesman, Thorsten Fleiß, said the attacker specifically targeted the necks of his victims. “After evaluating the initial images, we assume that it was a very targeted attack on the neck,” he said during a press conference. Several people were stabbed, apparently at random, in the attack at a central square in the city of Solingen last Friday evening, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Düsseldorf, police said. (CNN)…[+]

BALOCHISTAN – At least 34 people have been killed in two separate bus accidents in northeast and southwest Pakistan, according to local authorities. Twelve people died on the Makran Coastal Highway in the southwest province of Balochistan, the Ministry of Interior said on Sunday, while a rescue official said 22 people were killed when a bus plunged into a deep ravine near Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The first accident occurred overnight, when a bus carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran for a religious commemoration veered off the road. Thirteen people were also injured and were reported to be in critical condition, the provincial government said. Four people remained trapped inside the coach, and a crane was ordered to evacuate them, local police authorities said, according to Pakistani news outlet Dawn.

The second accident took place in the Kahuta district in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province. Rescue coordinator Rawalpindi Muhammad Usman told the Reuters news agency that that bus was carrying 25 passengers, including six women and a child. Among these passengers, 22 had died and one was critically injured. All of the bodies from the crash have been recovered from the ravine, he said.

The Interior Ministry, however, said 29 had died in that crash. “The accident was caused due to the coaster’s failed brakes,” rescue official Usman Gujjar told Dawn. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed his “heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the deceased in both accidents”. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also issued separate statements expressing their sorrow.

Earlier this week, a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims flipped over in central Iran, killing 28 passengers and injuring another 23 people. The passengers were Pakistani pilgrims heading to Iraq for the Arbaeen commemoration, one of the biggest events of the year for Shia Muslims globally. Thousands of Shia Muslims travel to Iraq’s holy city of Karbala to commemorate the occasion, marking the end of the annual 40-day mourning period after the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, a central figure in the sect of Islam. Each year, 9,000 incidents are reported on average, leading to more than 5,000 deaths. (Al Jazeera)…[+]

GUYANA – One man was confirmed dead and several others hospitalized with gunshot injuries following a drive-by shooting at D’Urban Street, Georgetown, police said last Saturday. The shooting took place around 05:45hrs that morning and resulted in the death of Anthony Havercome, a 40-year-old vendor from South Ruimveldt, Georgetown, who was reportedly riddled with bullets.

Hospitalized with gunshot wounds are, Travis Ceres, a 25-year-old vendor from East La Penitence, Teon Allen, 38 of Sophia, Stanley Matthews, a 31-year-old labourer of Sophia, Destra Authur, 33, another vendor and a resident of East La Penitence, Lenox Wayne, 39, a security guard of Turkeyen.

Ceres sustained a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen, Allen, an individual who is no stranger to the law, one to his shoulder. Matthews received two, one to the left hand and another in the left thigh. Authur was shot in the left leg while Wayne was shot to his right thigh and hand.

Detectives learnt that the victims might have been attending an “All Black Party” at V’s Flavour Delight, located at 23 D’Urban Street, Lodge. At around 05:00hrs last Saturday, however, police closed off the party but some persons continued to drink in front of the location.

The host of the event, Keon Aaron said that he was checking off his bar when he heard several gunshots. While finding out what where it came from, he reportedly saw a black car speeding in western direction from the location. He then saw several bloodied individuals being placed in vehicles and rushed away to the city hospital.

Ranks subsequently made checks at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where they learnt that several persons were shot and one of them killed during a shooting at the location. Kaieteur News later learnt that there was one more victim of the shooting, a miner, Lloyd Roberts, of Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

He sustained gunshot wounds to his right chest and left hip; some believe that Roberts might have been the real target of the drive-by. Roberts is presently receiving treatment at a private hospital. Further investigations by police led them to locating the car believed to be the one used in the shooting. Investigations are ongoing. (Kaieteur News)…[+]