Officials in Germany have said they cannot rule out "terrorist motives" following a stabbing at a festival which left three people dead - and revealed a 15-year-old has been detained in connection with the incident.
The teenager is suspected of failing "to report an imminent crime" but no more at the moment, police and prosecutors said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon. They are investigating the possibility he may have spoken to the attacker.
Prosecutor Markus Caspers said authorities are still looking into motives and searching for a male perpetrator, as a "large-scale" overnight manhunt involving several police forces and special units continues. There is no clear link between the people who were attacked, authorities said - one of the reasons why terrorism cannot be ruled out.
A 56-year-old woman and two men, aged 56 and 67, died following the attack. Eight people were injured, four seriously, while "many other people have suffered mental stress".
Police were alerted by witnesses shortly after 9.30pm local time on Friday, to reports of several people being wounded in a central square, the Fronhof, during a community festival.
Searches are still also under way at various locations, officers said, with federal forces also involved to check areas outside the city. "The investigation and manhunt for possible further perpetrators and reasons for the crime are in full swing," they said.
Police officer Thorsten Fleiss, who was the chief of operations when the stabbings happened on Friday, said it had been a "big challenge" to bring together available evidence and testimony from witnesses in order to come up with an overall picture.
Earlier in the day, police issued a warning urging people to stay vigilant, even as well-wishers started to leave flowers at the scene. They have also urged people not to speculate about the attack.
DJ and music producer Topic, who was performing at the festival, said he was on stage and asked to continue performing "to avoid mass panic" as the incident unfolded.
Siobhan Robbins
Europe correspondent
@SiobhanRobbinsThere is a calm sadness hanging over the west German city of Solingen. A few metres away from the site where three festival-goers were fatally stabbed, locals lay candles in their honour.
The small memorial laid out on a rainbow flag grows gradually through the day. I watch as a woman wipes a tear from her cheek, deeply moved by the devastation which has been inflicted about her home.
"Last night our hearts were torn apart," says Solingen's mayor, Tim Kurzbach. "We in Solingen are full of horror and grief. What happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep."
Police in small groups can be seen in the streets; some guard the cordon, others speak to members of the public as they try to gather information about the attacker who caused all the pain.
Festival organiser Philip Müller was at the second stage when he got a call saying there was a man in the crowd stabbing people. When he arrived at the central square a few moments later, the only people left were the dead, the injured and emergency service personnel trying to help them.
"When I arrived at the front there were no people anymore," he says. "They were gone: shocked. There was a little kind of panic... some got down under the tables." He adds: "No one can break this city. We have 160,000 people... let us keep together in freedom and in peace."
Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is near the bigger city of Dusseldorf and Germany's border with the Netherlands.
Information about the identities of the victims has not yet been released.
The region's top security official, Herbert Reul, who visited the scene in the early hours of Saturday, told reporters it was a targeted attack on human life but declined to speculate on the motive.
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Tap hereThe Festival of Diversity, marking the city's 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was supposed to continue over the weekend, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics. It has now been cancelled.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that the perpetrator must be caught and punished quickly.
"The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that has shocked me greatly," he said. "An attacker has brutally killed several people."
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