Police detain a suspect in the German knife attack that killed three

A special police task force (SEK) carries out an operation at a refugee shelter. (Christoph Reichwein/dpa via AP)

German police have detained a suspect in the Solingen knife attack that killed three people, an official has said.

“We have been following a hot lead all day,” Herbert Reul, the state internal affairs minister of North Rhein Westphalia, told Tagesschau, the news programme of the German public television network ARD.