At least two people have been killed and seven more injured in a stabbing rampage on a train in Germany today.
The attacker sparked chaos as he lunged at horrified passengers on board the train from Kiel to Hamburg shortly before 3pm, sending commuters screaming down the carriages as they tried to escape his onslaught.
The bloodbath came to an end when the suspect, a 33-year-old stateless Palestinian man according to officials, was tackled by cops and arrested on a station platform in the town of Brokstedt.
A police spokesman said the investigation into a motive was focused on ‘all directions’ including possible extremism or psychological problems on the part of the assailant.
Three of the seven injured passengers are in a serious condition following the attack condemned as a ‘horrible act against all humanity’ by regional interior minister Sabine Suetterlin-Waack.
Emergency services work at Brokstedt station in Brokstedt, Germany, on Wednesday
Two people have been killed and several others injured after a man launched a knife attack on a train in Germany today. Pictured: The scene
Forensics staff are on duty on a platform at a regional train, with police officers standing opposite, at Brokstedt station in Brokstedt, Germany, on Wednesday
Sabine Suetterlin-Waack speaks to the media after an incident involving a knife attack took place on a train travelling between Kiel and Hamburg, in Brokstedt, Germany
A passenger said people in his train carriage panicked when three hysterical girls ran into their carriage and screamed that the attacker had stabbed people further down the train.
The attacker is believed to have fled the train once it stopped at the station and continued to stab people on the platform before being tackled by police officers, reports Bild.
The 33-year-old knifeman has not been identified but he is believed to be a Palestinian refugee from Gaza.
He is also in hospital receiving treatment under police guard after he reportedly stabbed himself amid his attack on fellow passengers. The suspect reportedly had a temporary residence permit with him during the attack.
Police and rescue services work at a level crossing at Brokstedt station in Brokstedt, Germany, on Wednesday
Police and forensic teams work at a level crossing near Brokstedt station in Brokstedt, Germany, today following the knife attack
Forensic experts stand next to a train on which an incident involving a knife attack took place, at a railway station in Brokstedt, Germany, January 25, 2023
Regional interior minister Sabine Suetterlin-Waack condemned the attack as a ‘horrible act against all humanity’.
‘It is terrible,’ Suetterlin-Waack told German public broadcaster NDR. ‘We are shocked and horrified that something like this has happened.
‘For me it is clear that the horrible act is against all humanity,’ the interior minister said, adding her ‘thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims’.
Suetterlin-Waack is on her way to the scene of the attack ‘working closely together’ to determine a motive.
There is large-scale emergency operation at the scene, with nine ambulances, three emergency and rescue helicopter all at the station to treat the passengers.
Police have closed the station and forensic teams were seen working at the scene.
There is large-scale emergency operation at the scene, with nine ambulances, three emergency and rescue helicopter all at the station to treat the passengers. The station has been closed by police
A forensic expert walks next to a train at a railway station after an incident involving a knife attack took place on a train travelling between Kiel and Hamburg, in Brokstedt, Germany, January 25, 2023
Police were investigating at the train station in Brokstedt, the German railway Deutsche Bahn said on Twitter, adding that some services between Hamburg and Kiel had been cancelled.
Germany has been hit in recent years by several deadly knife attacks, some carried out by extremists and others by people suffering from serious psychological problems.
A Syrian jihadist was given a life sentence in May 2021 for stabbing a German man to death and severely wounding his partner in a homophobic attack in the eastern city of Dresden.
A German court in December sentenced a Syrian-born man to 14 years in prison for an Islamist knife attack on a train in which he injured four passengers.
Last year a German court committed a Somali man to a psychiatric hospital after he stabbed three people to death in the southern city of Wuerzburg in 2021.