Germany deported Afghan nationals on Friday for the first time since August 2021, when the Taliban returned to power.

A government spokesman described the Afghan nationals as convicted criminals but did not immediately respond to a request for comment to clarify their offenses.

The deportations occurred a week after a deadly knife attack in Solingen where the suspect is a Syrian citizen who had applied for asylum in Germany.

The suspect was supposed to be deported to Bulgaria last year but reportedly disappeared for a time and avoided deportation. He was ordered held Sunday on suspicion of murder and membership in a terrorist organization pending further investigation and a possible indictment.

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, without providing evidence. The extremist group said on its news site that the attacker targeted Christians and that he carried out the assaults “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.” The claim couldn't be independently verified.

The Solingen attack comes amid debate over immigration ahead of regional elections Sunday in Germany's Saxony and Thuringia regions where anti-immigration parties such as the populist Alternative for Germany are expected to do well. In June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed that the country would start deporting criminals from Afghanistan and Syria again after a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant left one police officer dead and four more people injured.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Thursday announced a plan to tighten existing knife laws, according to German news agency dpa. Faeser, along with other officials in the government's coalition during a news conference, also pledged to make deportations easier.