Hamburg - A 26-year-old man went on a
stabbing spree with a kitchen knife in the northern German city
of Hamburg on Friday, killing one 50-year-old man and wounding
six others, police said.
Passersby tackled the attacker as he fled the scene,
enabling plain clothes police officers to take him into custody,
the police said.
Police said the man, who was born in the United Arab
Emirates, suddenly began attacking customers in a supermarket.
A police spokeswoman said she could not confirm a report by
a female witness on television that the attacker shouted "Allahu
Akbar", Arabic for "God is Greatest", as he ran out of the
supermarket.
She said the motive for the attack was still under
investigation. Police said the man was born in the UAE but said
they were still trying to determine his citizenship.
The spokeswoman also said she had no information that the
attacker was known to authorities as an Islamist, as reported by
German newspaper Tagesspiegel.
undefinedIn an updated statement late on Friday police said a
50-year-old woman and four men aged between 19 and 64 sustained
injuries in the attack. A 35-year-old man was injured while
trying to stop the attacker, they said.
"It was definitely a lone attacker," Hamburg police said in
a tweet. They said initial reports about a possible robbery had
not been substantiated.
Police have been on high alert in Germany since a spate of
attacks on civilians last year, including a December attack on a
Berlin Christmas market, when a hijacked truck ploughed into the
crowds, killing 12 and injuring many more.
Security has been a campaign issue ahead of Sept. 24
parliamentary elections, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel is
expected to win a fourth term in office.
Newspaper Bild showed a picture of the alleged Hamburg
attacker sitting in the back of a police car, his face concealed
with a bloodied shroud.
A video on its website showed a helicopter landed outside
the supermarket with armed police in body armour patrolling the
neighbourhood.