Hamburg: Eighteen people were injured in a knife attack at the central train station in the northern German city of Hamburg on Friday, police said.
According to Emirates News Agency, four people suffered life-threatening injuries, six were seriously injured, and seven others sustained lighter injuries on the platform. All of the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
Police stated that a 39-year-old German woman was detained at the station after stabbing people at random on the platform. The German press agency (dpa) quoted a police spokesman as saying that the woman will appear before a judge on Saturday, adding that she remains in police custody.
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.