Police in Germany on Saturday arrested a man suspected of a stabbing rampage in the western German town of Solingen on Friday, a state official told local television, according to Reuters.
North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister Herbert Reul told the ARD broadcaster that he was "a bit relieved" after authorities spent the day following a "hot lead" that led to the arrest.
The Islamic State (ISIS) group had earlier claimed responsibility for Friday's knife attack that also wounded eight people.
Police spent the day conducting a manhunt, making two arrests that were likely not the perpetrator, Reul said.
"The real suspect is the one that we’ve arrested just now," he said. The individual is being questioned and evidence was seized, he added.
Reul said the man was affiliated with a home for refugees that had been searched earlier in the day.
Friday’s attack took place in the Fronhof, a market square in the western German city where live bands were playing as part of a festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary.
Police cordoned off the square on Saturday and passers-by placed candles and flowers outside the barriers.
Germany has been on high alert for possible Islamist attacks for several years and especially since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.
The country's domestic intelligence chief warned that the risk of such assaults is "real and higher than it has been for a long time".
In late October, police in the western German city of Essen arrested a man who plotted to attack a pro-Israel demonstration.
In December, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in western Germany on suspicion of planning a possible attack on a Christmas market.
Weeks later German police arrested three people over an alleged attack plot targeting the cathedral in Cologne on New Year's Eve.
In late May, German authorities arrested two men suspected of plotting a knife attack on worshippers at a synagogue in the southwestern city of Heidelberg.
In June, an Iraqi man who is accused of standing by to carry out attacks for the Islamic State (ISIS) group after he arrived in Germany in 2022 was arrested in Esslingen, near Stuttgart.