Two people were killed and seven injured in a knife attack on a German train

At least two people were killed and seven injured in a stabbing on a train in Germany today.

The attacker caused chaos when he pounced on terrified passengers aboard the Kiel-Hamburg train just before 3pm, sending commuters screaming through the carriages as they tried to escape his attack.

The carnage ended when the suspect, a Palestinian refugee aged between 20 and 30, was attacked by police and arrested on a train platform in the town of Brokstedt, according to German newspaper Bild.

A police spokesman says the investigation into the motive is aimed in “all directions”, including possible extremism or mental health problems of the perpetrator.

Three of the seven injured passengers are in a serious condition after the attack, which Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack condemned as a “heinous act against all humanity”.

Two people were killed and several others injured after a man stabbed a train in Germany today. In the photo: the scene

Forensic investigators are on duty on a platform of a regional train, facing police officers, at the Brokstedt train station in Brokstedt, Germany, on Wednesday.

One passenger says people in his carriage panicked when three hysterical girls ran into their car and shouted that the attacker had stabbed people further down the train.

The attacker apparently fled the train when it stopped at the station and detained people on the platform before he was attacked by police officers, reports Bild.

The identity of the stabbing star is not yet known, but according to the photo it is a Palestinian refugee from Gaza. The newspaper earlier reported that the attacker was a Syrian.

He is also being treated in hospital under police guard after allegedly stabbing himself during his attack on fellow passengers. The suspect apparently had a temporary residence permit with him during the attack.

A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said the suspect was between 25 and 40 years old. However, a police officer told the photo that he was between 20 and 30 years old.

Police and rescue workers work on a level crossing at Brokstedt train station in Brokstedt, Germany, on Wednesday.

Police and forensics work today after the knife attack at a level crossing near Brokstedt train station in Brokstedt, Germany

Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack condemned the attack as a “terrible act against all humanity”.

“It’s terrible,” Sütterlin-Waack told NDR. “We are shocked and appalled that something like this has happened.

“I realize that this terrible act was directed against all of humanity,” the interior minister said, adding: “My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims.”

Sütterlin-Waack is on his way to the scene of the crime and is working “at full speed” to clarify the motive.

There is a large scale emergency ground operation with nine ambulances, three ambulances and rescue helicopters all at the station treating the passengers.

Police closed down the station and forensic teams were seen at the scene.

There is a large-scale ground emergency response operation, with nine ambulances, three ambulances and rescue helicopters all at the station treating the passengers. The station was closed by the police

Police did not provide the suspect’s identity and said his possible motives are being investigated.

Police are investigating the train station in Brokstedt, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn reports on Twitter, adding that some connections between Hamburg and Kiel have been cancelled.

Germany has been hit by several deadly knife attacks in recent years, some by extremists and others by people with serious mental health problems.

A Syrian jihadist was sentenced to life in prison in May 2021 for stabbing a German and seriously injuring his partner in a homophobic attack in the eastern city of Dresden.

In December, a German court sentenced a Syrian-born man to 14 years in prison for an Islamist knife attack on a train that injured four passengers.

Last year, a German court committed a Somali man to a psychiatric hospital after he stabbed three people in the southern city of Würzburg in 2021.