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Knife attack at German festival leaves 3 dead and 5 seriously wounded

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An attacker with a knife killed three people and seriously wounded at least five late Friday at a festival in the western German city of Solingen, authorities said.

Witnesses alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. to an unknown attacker having wounded several people indiscriminately with a knife on a central square, the Fronhof. Police said the perpetrator was on the run, and they had only very little information on the man so far.

They said they believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker.

One of the festival organizers, Philipp Müller, appeared on stage and asked festivalgoers to “go calmly; please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator hasn’t been caught.”

He said many people had been wounded by “a knifeman.”

At least one helicopter was seen in the air, while many police and emergency vehicles with flashing blue lights were on the road and several streets were closed off.

Police put the number of seriously injured at five. The region’s top security official, Herbert Reul, gave a figure of six as he visited the scene in the early hours of Saturday.

“None of us knows why” the attack took place, said Reul, who is the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.

“I can’t say anything about the motive now” and it isn’t clear who the assailant was, he said, but the attacker left the scene “relatively quickly.”

Mayor Tim Kurzbach said in a Facebook post, “This evening, we in Solingen are all in shock. We all wanted to celebrate our city’s anniversary together and now have dead and wounded to lament.”

“It breaks my heart that an attack on our city happened,” he added.

Local newspaper Solinger Tageblatt quoted Celine Derikartz, its reporter covering the festival, as saying that “the atmosphere is spooky.” She said a party atmosphere had turned to shock within minutes and she saw festivalgoers weeping.

The “Festival of Diversity,” marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

The city canceled the rest of the festival after the attack. Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is located near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.

There has been concern about an increase in knife violence in Germany recently.

In May, a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant on members of a group that describes itself as opposing “political Islam” left a police officer dead.

Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to 6 centimeters (nearly 2.4 inches) to be carried in public, rather than the length of 12 centimeters (4.7 inches) that is allowed now.

(AP)

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Equipment given to non cricket playing schools in WP

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The Ministry of Youth and Sports today distributed cricket equipment to 30 selected schools in the Western Province that currently do not offer cricket.

The programme is done with the goal of ensuring that every child interested in cricket has the opportunity to pursue the sport, despite their economic status. It is also expected to be expanded to all districts in the future.

The distribution was held under the patronage of Deputy Minister of Sports Sugath Thilakaratne at the Ministry premises.

Officials from the Ministry, principals, teachers, and students from the selected schools participated in the event.

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New Chief Secretary appointed to WP

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President Anura Kumara Disanayake has appointed Mr K.G.P. Pushpakumara as the Chief Secretary of the Western Province.

The official letter of appointment was handed over to Mr Pushpakumara today (June 06) at the Presidential Secretariat by Secretary to the President, Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.

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Bill to scrap MPs’ pensions, to be tabled in Parliament in July

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The government has decided to present a bill to abolish pensions for Members of Parliament at the upcoming Cabinet meeting.

Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Ananda Wijepala, stated that the bill has been finalized by the Legal Draftsman and is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament next month.

In addition, the Minister announced that the issuance of vehicle licenses to MPs has also been suspended, as part of broader efforts to reduce public expenditure and restore trust in political accountability.

(dailynews.lk)

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by dailynews.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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