Knife attacker goes on rampage on train with two dead and seven injured
Two people have been killed and seven more injured after a knifeman went on a rampage on an inter-region train in Germany.
The train was travelling between Hamburg and Kiel, which are just over 60 miles apart.
The man reportedly attacked travellers around 3pm before arriving at Brokstedt station, which is near Neumunster in northern Germany.
Interior minister of Schleswig-Holstein Sabine Suetterlin-Waack told DPA that two were killed and another five wounded. Three people were severely injured and four others suffered minor injuries.
One person is fighting for their life in hospital, she said.
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No details were given about the identity of the victims.
One eyewitness told how the carriage erupted in panic when three girls rushed in to say there was a man with a knife on the train, according to KN-Online.
By then, the suspect had already injured at least one woman.
An injured person is treated at the scene (AP)As the train pulled up to Brokstedt, the passengers fled on to the platform to escape the killer.
A large part of the station has been cordoned off and there is a large emergency service response at the scene, including nine ambulances, three emergency doctors and a rescue helicopter from Hamburg.
Police - who say the suspect is now in custody - added that he had hand wounds when he was arrested, which they believe were self-inflicted.
The man was reportedly tackled by cops as he got off the train.
Police did not provide any information on the suspect's identity other than saying he was between 20 to 30 years old.
The station was closed for several hours, police said (AP)The regional interior minister branded the attack a "horrible act against all humanity".
"It is terrible," Suetterlin-Waack told German public broadcaster NDR.
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"We are shocked and horrified that something like this has happened.
"For me it is clear that the horrible act is against all humanity", she added, saying her "thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims."
Police are still investigating the motive behind the attack.
The region's interior minister branded the attack "horrible" and "against all humanity" (Jonas Walzberg/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)Train operator Deutsche Bahn expressed its condolences on Wednesday evening, saying that "our deepest sympathy goes to the relatives of the victims. We wish those injured a speedy and complete recovery".
A similar incident in May last year left six injured after a knifeman lashed out on a passenger train near the western German city of Aachen.
The suspect was detained by police while several were treated in hospital for their injuries.
Herbert Reul, the NRW state interior minister, reportedly said six people were wounded, including the suspected attacker.
The suspect struck passengers "indiscriminately and arbitrarily," Reul said.
"Based on everything that [they] know so far," investigators believed the perpetrator's intent was to harm as many people as possible, Reul added.
The attack occurred on a Friday morning on a regional passenger train.
Medical staff rushed four passengers to the hospital, none of whom faced life-threatening injuries.
Those injured in the attack had sustained wounds to their hands and cut wounds to their faces.
Police said the 31-year-old suspect had been overpowered by a 60-year-old police officer who happened to be on the train, reports The Independent, along with two other passengers.
The officer, who was not named, said: “I was on my way to work, that’s all I can say.”
Reul told reporters the suspect was a 31-year-old man who was born in Iraq - though his citizenship remained unclear.
In December, a girl was murdered with another left fighting for her life after being attacked by a man on their way to school in Illerkirchberg, a 4,700-inhabitant village in southern Germany.
Emergency services raced to the town near Munich to find the pupils, aged 13 and 14, and took them to hospital, but the eldest of the pair couldn't be saved and was pronounced dead after admission.
Cops earlier said both girls had "serious injuries" but refused to go into further detail.
German daily newspaper Bild said the attack happened around 7.30am as the youngsters made their way to school.
Horrified locals immediately contacted emergency services and the two girls were rushed to hospital by ambulance.
The suspect is understood to have fled into a nearby building, which initial reports suggested may have been a refugee housing.
Cops stormed the residence and arrested everyone inside. The prime suspect and two other individuals were taken to the police station and the innocent parties released, cops said.
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