‘Mentally unstable’ man wounds nine with axe at railway station in Germany

German police said on Friday an axe-wielding attacker who wounded nine people in a bloody rampage at a railway station overnight was psychologically disturbed, ruling out a terrorist motive.

They were waiting to question the 36-year-old from Kosovo, who is in hospital with multiple bone fractures after jumping off a bridge while trying to flee police at the crime scene, the main railway station in Duesseldorf.

News site Spiegel Online identified him as Fatmir H and said he had told investigators that he hoped to be shot dead by police following the attack.

The suspect sparked panic when he got off a commuter train on Thursday and began swinging an axe at passers-by.

Police said he was in an “exceptional mental state” at the time.

Police commandos with automatic weapons, wearing bulletproof vests and balaclavas, to the station backed by helicopters amid fears it was a terrorist attack and after initial false reports of multiple attackers.

Police chased the man along railway tracks until he leapt off a four-metre bridge to evade arrest.

Germany has been on edge after a string of attacks in recent months -- several carried out by people with mental health problems -- and a deadly truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market in December claimed by IS.

Writing on Twitter, Angela Merkel’s chancellery chief-ofstaff Peter Altmaier said: “Our compassion and our thoughts go out to the injured.”

It’s a huge blow for Duesseldorf. Many people are in shock ... My thoughts go out to the victims and their families