They said that at around 10 pm (2000 GMT) a single, unidentified man attacked multiple people and that the perpetrator was still at large."It tears my heart apart that there was an attack on our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost," Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach said in a statement. "I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives."Fatal stabbings and shootings in Germany are relatively uncommon.The police said the attack occurred at a festival to honour the town's 650th anniversary.Solingen is in North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany's most populous and bordering the Netherlands.The state's interior minister, Herbert Reul, visited the scene, telling reporters it was a targeted attack on human life but declining to speculate on the motive.The attack occurred at the Fronhof, the mayor's statement said, a market square where live bands were playing.The German government has been aiming to toughen rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the length allowed.In June, a 29-year-old policeman died after being stabbed in the German city of Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration.