Berlin-a man on a long distance train in southern Germany attacked and slightly wounded four people with a hammer on Thursday before being arrested by the police, authorities said.
The police in Straubing said the attack occurred on an Express ice train that was headed from the city of North Germany of Hamburg to the Austrian capital of Vienna, while it was between Straubing and Platting in the southern state of Bavaria.
Some 500 people were on board when the attack occurred, police said.
About 150 police, firefighters and emergency personnel were deployed on the scene, the police added. The railway line was closed.
Initially, the police said the author used an ax in the attack, but then said that he allegedly used a hammer and probably other weapons they did not name. They identified man as a 20 -year -old Syrian citizen.
The police did not provide more details about the identity of the attacker or his motive, but then said that he was dominated by other passengers and that he had also been injured.
The author “is probably somewhat more seriously injured,” a police spokesman told the German news agency DPA. I was in police custody and receiving medical treatment.
The four injured passengers, which were not identified, were taken to nearby hospitals.
According to the Bavarian Red Cross, the emergency services were alerted around 2 in the local time, after the passengers took out the emergency brakes. The train stopped near the town of Straßkirchen, DPA reported.
The Red Cross said that a special care center was established near to take care of passengers. In addition to numerous rescue services and two helicopters, psychological caregivers were deployed to help those who were not injured but could have been traumatized.
The German rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, said in a statement that “our thoughts and sympathy are with the injured and all who now have to accept what they have experienced,” and thanked emergency services for the rapid arrest of the suspect.
Germany has seen several violent attacks in public spaces in recent months.
In May, a woman stabbed and wounded more than a dozen people at the Central Station of Hamburg. In February, a driver went through a demonstration in Munich, killing two and wounding more than 20.
In December, a man killed six and wounded more than 200 when he drove a car through a Christmas market in Magdeburg.
