The alleged perpetrator was arrested. At least two people were killed and seven injured in a knife attack on a regional train in northern Germany on Wednesday, police said. The attack happened in the afternoon on a regional train between Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein) and Hamburg, said a spokesman for the Flensburg police.
A police spokesman for the neighboring town of Itzehoe added that three of the seven injured were serious. The alleged perpetrator, who is said to be between 20 and 30 years old, was arrested at Brokstedt train station, a town about sixty kilometers from Hamburg, where the regional train was shut down. Police said he was also injured. “Witnesses managed to subsequently sedate the suspect until police arrived in Brokstedt,” she said in a statement.
An unclear pattern
“The knife attack on a regional train is shocking news,” tweeted Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. “Our thoughts are with the victims of this terrible act and their families,” she added. The reason for the attack has not yet been clarified, according to police, adding that all leads are being investigated, from the act of an extremist to the gesture of an unbalanced person.
Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent
I SUPPOSE
More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.
Witnesses to the attack described a “panic scene” on the train, write the Bild media on their website. According to photos released by Bild, a large number of police vehicles and ambulances were deployed around the station. The railway company Deutsche Bahn announced that it would cancel trains on the main routes.
Berlin always on guard
German authorities remain vigilant amid the jihadist threat, particularly since an alleged attack on trucks by the terrorist militia Islamic State (Islamic State) that killed 12 people in Berlin in December 2016. This jihadist attack is the deadliest ever perpetrated on German soil. Germany remains a target of jihadist groups, particularly because of its involvement in the coalition to counter IS in Iraq and Syria, and the coalition deployed in Afghanistan after 2001.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the number of Islamists classified as dangerous in Germany has increased fivefold since 2013 and by the end of 2021 to currently 615. That of the Salafists is estimated at around 11,000, twice as many as in 2013. Following an FBI warning, the German authorities had announced in particular on January 8 the arrest of two Iranians suspected of wanting to commit a chemical “Islamist” ” with ricin and cyanide.