Nine hurt in Germany knife attack
Man on bus of ‘Iranian origin’ nabbed by cops but motive remains unclear
BeRLiN: Nine people were injured in an attack by a man wielding a knife on a bus in northern Germany, officials said, although his motive remained unclear.
The packed bus was on Friday heading in the direction of Travemuende, a popular beach destination close to the city of Luebeck, when a man pulled the weapon on passengers, Luebeck chief prosecutor Ulla Hingst said.
Regional interior minister for Schleswig-Holstein state, HansJoachim Grote, told DPA news agency that six people suffered knife wounds and three others different injuries, while the attacker also punched the bus driver.
“Luckily none was killed,” Hingst said.
“The background to the act as well as exactly how it happened are completely unclear and the objects of our investigation.”
The bus driver had immediately stopped the vehicle, allowing passengers to escape.
“The passengers jumped out of the bus and were screaming. It was terrible. Then the injured were brought out.
“The perpetrator had a kitchen knife,” a witness who lives close to the scene, Lothar H, told local daily Luebecker Nachrichten.
Grote said the bus driver had avoided the worst by acting in a “fast and courageous manner”.
An unnamed female passenger on the bus said one of those injured had only just given up his seat to an elderly woman, “when the perpetrator stabbed him in the chest”.
A police car which happened to be close by arrived at the scene quickly, allowing officers to detain the assailant, the newspaper reported.
Prosecutor Hingst told mass-market daily BILD that the suspected attacker is “a 34-year-old German citizen of Iranian origin”.
“We have no indication of political radicalisation of any kind,” she said, adding that the suspect had so far not spoken about the incident.
He is due to appear before a judge on Saturday.
DPA reported that the man ignited a bag he was carrying with fire accelerants. There was no trace of explosives, the agency added.
Police from Schleswig-Holstein said on Twitter that “people were injured. No one was killed. The perpetrator was overpowered and is now in police custody”.
While the motive has yet to be established, Germany has been on high alert after several deadly extremist attacks.
Security services had long warned of the threat of more violence after several attacks claimed by the Islamic State group, the bloodiest of which was a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that left 12 people dead.
Germany remains a target for extremist groups, in particular because of its involvement in the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and its deployment in Afghanistan since 2001.
Security services estimate there are around 11,000 radicals in Germany, some 980 of whom are deemed particularly dangerous and capable of using violence.
Around 150 of these potentially dangerous individuals have been detained for various offences. — AFP