Today's Edition
HAMBURG (dpa)
Eighteen people were injured in a knife attack at the central train station in the northern German city of Hamburg on Friday, police said.
Earlier, emergency services had reported 17 injuries. Four people suffered life-threatening injuries, six were seriously injured and seven others sustained lighter injuries on the platform, officials said.
All of the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
Police said a 39-year-old German woman was detained at the station after stabbing people at random on platform 13/14.
She is to be brought before a judge on Saturday, a police spokesman told dpa, adding that the woman remains in police custody. The homicide squad has launched an investigation.
Investigators currently believe that this was the act of a lone perpetrator. Police spokesman Florian Abbenseth told dpa that the suspect did not resist arrest.
The police do not believe that the stabbing was a politically motivated act.
"Rather, we have findings that lead us to investigate whether she may have been in a state of mental distress," Abbenseth explained.
The incident, which occurred around 6 pm (1600 GMT) on Friday, sparked a major police operation at Hamburg's central train station, one of the busiest public transport hubs in Germany.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz held a phone call with Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher following the knife attack.
Merz wrote on X: "The news from Hamburg is shocking. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. My thanks go to all the emergency services on the ground for their rapid assistance."
Germany saw a number of attacks in public places in the run-up to parliamentary elections in February.
