Old photo falsely linked to recent knife attack in Germany's Solingen

What is the claim?

Social media users are circulating an image claiming it shows the attacker responsible for a recent knife incident at a street party in the German city of Solingen on August 23 in which three people were killed and five were injured.

An X (formerly Twitter) user shared the photo (archived here) and wrote, "BREAKING: 3-dead, several injured in a knife attack at a festival in Solingen, Germany..... #Germany #Solingen #Stabbing #FestivalOfDiversity #faitsdivers #actualité #Urgent." Archived versions of other social media posts can be seen here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the claims shared online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

The viral image was also shared by multiple online news outlets, including NDTV India, Latestly, and OpIndia. Archived versions of these articles can be found here, here, and here.

However, Logically Facts found the photo is unrelated to the Solingen attack and dates back to 2021, showing the perpetrator of another knife attack in Germany.

What are the facts?

Conducting a reverse image search, we found that several media outlets published similar images in reports from 2021. A news report by The Sun published on June 28, 2021, about an attack in Wurzburg, Germany, carried a similar image.

Screenshot of a news report states that the incident occurred in Wurzburgm, Germany in 2021 (Source: The Sun/Modified by Logically Facts)

We found a report by The Telegraph from June 25, 2021, which noted that the perpetrator had been identified as a 24-year-old Somali resident of Wurzburg. Police arrested the attacker after shooting him in the leg. The report also carried a similar image of the man holding a weapon.

Another report by British newspaper The Times, dated June 26, 2021, headlined "Three dead after knifeman goes on rampage in Bavarian city of Würzburg" also carried a similar image of the man holding a weapon.

Another news report by The Times stated that the attacker was identified as Abdirahman J., who was seen carrying the knife through the city, killed three women and injured several others in a stabbing incident at Barbarossaplatz, a central square in the Bavarian city.

A video about the incident was uploaded on June 26, 2021, by a YouTube video news channel called CRUX. The video shows several people confronting and attempting to restrain the alleged perpetrator, who in return throws an object at them while holding a knife in his other hand.

Screenshot from the video uploaded in 2021 (Source: CRUX News/Modified by Logically Facts)

Solingen knife incident

The viral images are unrelated to the recent knife attack in Solingen, Germany, on August 23, 2024. An attacker armed with a knife killed at least three people and injured several others at a festival celebrating the 650th anniversary of Solingen's history. According to a Reuters report, German police stated that a 26-year-old Syrian man was arrested on Sunday in connection with the attack. The man reportedly turned himself in to the police and admitted to the crime. Authorities also also investigating the suspect's possible links with the Islamic State. Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attack on their Telegram account, although the claim had not yet been verified, Reuters reported.

The verdict

The viral photo is not connected to the recent stabbing incident in Solingen, Germany. The image dates back to 2021 and is from another incident that occurred in Wurzburg, Germany. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.