A stabbing attack on Friday at the busy central train station in the German city of Hamburg left several people injured, some of them in life-threatening condition, authorities said.
Police said a 39-year-old woman, a German national, was arrested at the scene without putting up resistance and that they believe, after watching video footage, she acted alone. Police also secured the knife.
The attacker targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14 in the station at around 6 p.m. local time, according to police. The station in downtown Hamburg, Germany’s second-biggest city, is a major hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
Hamburg’s fire service initially said six people sustained life-threatening injuries, while another three were seriously injured and three had slight injuries, German news agency dpa reported. Police, however, said later that there were no “valid figures” yet but that “several” people had life-threatening injuries.
There was no immediate indication of any political motive, and investigators were looking into whether the suspect may have been mentally ill, police spokesperson Florian Abbenseth said.
A high-speed InterCity Express, or ICE, train with its doors open was still at the platform hours after the attack, but Abbenseth said that it was not a crime scene.
Fabian Bimmer / REUTERS
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by the attack. Four tracks at the station were closed Friday evening, and some long-distance trains were delayed or diverted.
Carrying weapons, including knives, is banned at the station and on local transport in Hamburg.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s office said the German leader was appalled by the news and told Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher in a call Friday evening that “my thoughts are with the victims and their relatives.”
There have been several stabbing attacks in Germany in recent years. In August 2024, a 26-year-old Syrian man killed three people and wounded eight others in a Solingen festival knife attack, motivated by the Islamic State terror group, prosecutors said. In June 2024, a man attacked several people in the southwest German city of Mannheim, leaving seven people injured, according to police. And in June 2023, a man fatally stabbed two people and injured seven others on a train in northern Germany, police said at the time.