Ten people were injured, three seriously, when a man armed with a kitchen knife attacked passengers on a crowded bus in the northern German city of Lübeck, police have said.
A police spokesman said the attack occurred in the Kuecknitz district of the city.
Authorities had no immediate information on the assailant’s motive but they believe the suspect had no background in terrorism.
Investigators found a flammable substance in a backpack on the bus but no explosives.
The incident started when the assailant set fire to the backpack, prosecutor Ulla Hingst said at a Friday evening news conference.
The driver told investigators that he stopped the bus and opened all the doors to let passengers out after noticing the fire in his rear-view mirror.
He then walked back to find out what was going on and was hit by the assailant, Ms Hingst said.
As the suspect left the bus, he stabbed people around him with a 5in kitchen knife. The attacker was overpowered by passengers outside the vehicle, then quickly arrested by police nearby.
One eyewitness told local newspaper Lübecker Nachrichten: “The passengers jumped off the bus and screamed. It was terrible. Then the injured were taken away. The perpetrator had a kitchen knife.”
Another said: ”One of the victims had just offered his place to an elderly woman, as the offender stabbed him in the chest. It was carnage.”
German news agency dpa quoted police as saying three people received “medium-serious” injuries in the incident.
State police tweeted: “Nobody was killed. The perpetrator was overpowered and is now in police custody.”
An area around a bus stop was sealed off by police, Mr Duerbook told newspaper Bild.
Additional reporting by AP
