Foreign intel intercepted Solingen attacker's confession video before attack

The now-convicted attacker Issa al Hasan in May 2025 in the courtroom of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. Source: Federico Gambarini/dpa

A foreign intelligence service apparently succeeded in intercepting the confession video of the Solingen attacker before the attack and its release by the Islamic State (IS). When authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia requested information about the attacker after the attack and circulated his photo, they promptly received a screenshot from the confession video, announced Thomas Kutschaty (SPD), chairman of the investigative committee on the Solingen attack in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia.

"We do not have these legal possibilities," said North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), who testified as a witness before the investigative committee this Friday. He expressed gratitude for such tips, noting they had already prevented several attacks. In this case, however, the photo was only received after the attack. It remains the case that Issa al Hasan was not known to security authorities before the attack.

Opposition Questions Lone Wolf Narrative

The opposition is now casting doubt on the finding that the Syrian was a lone wolf who radicalized himself online. Issa al Hasan had contact with several Islamists and Islamist threats.

"It cannot be a coincidence that these connections existed and are only now coming to light," said SPD representative Lisa Kapteinat. "It is becoming increasingly clear that the Solingen attacker was not the lone wolf that the minister wants to portray him as."

One of the contacts is said to have planned an attack on the 2024 European Football Championship and has since been sentenced to several years in prison. The North Rhine-Westphalia Security Conference is said to have dealt with this and another contact of Issa al Hasan two months before the Solingen attack.

"All these contacts have been investigated. We found nothing indicating support for the attack," Reul said. Regarding internal police criticism that it was not possible to bring a tracking dog to the crime scene in an acceptable time to follow the attacker's trail, the minister said he knew nothing about it.

Herbert Reul (CDU), Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, sits as a witness before the investigative committee on the Solingen terrorist attack. Source: Christoph Reichwein/dpa

Only last week, Reul announced that even after a renewed review, he saw no evidence of accomplices or an Islamist network of the attacker in North Rhine-Westphalia. He acknowledged points of contact with Islamists but stated there were no attack-related contacts.

Background

On August 23, 2024, Issa al Hasan killed three people with a knife at a city festival in Solingen and injured many others. The terrorist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack.