Germany: Axe-wielding assailant shot after train rampage

German police have shot an axe-wielding 17-year-old Afghan man who attacked passengers on a train on Monday evening injuring four – at least three seriously.

About 14 passengers were on the train on Monday evening in Franconia in northern Bavaria when they were attacked by the man, reportedly an unaccompanied minor asylum seeker. The young man was reportedly carrying an axe, a knife and other weapons. After going on the run, after the attack, a spokesman for Bavaria’s interior ministry said the man was shot by police.

"Some people are seriously injured, some life-threatening injuries," said a police spokesman in Würzburg.

Shock

After initial reports that the attack had left at least 15 and as many as 21 injured, local media reports later said most of those passengers on the train were being treated for shock.

Police say the 17-year-old had come to Germany and was living with a foster family in the Franconian town of Ochsenfurt. The attack took place as the train travelled between Treutlingen and Würzburg, where passengers said the young man began hitting people with the axe and a knife. Train traffic between the two cities was halted last night after the attacks and helicopters circled over the scene of the attack. Bavarian police declined to give any details of the attacker’s motivation.