May 24 \u2013 Several people have suffered life-threatening injuries in a knife attack at the main railway station in the German city of Hamburg, police have said.<\/p>\n
Hamburg Police said 18 people were injured in the attack at the northern city\u2019s Central Station at about 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Friday.<\/p>\n
Officers arrested a 39-year-old German woman at the scene as they carried out a major operation.<\/p>\n
The woman remains in police custody and is scheduled to appear in court on Saturday.<\/p>\n
In a post on X, Hamburg Police said several people who were hurt had sustained life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the press outside the station, police said they believe the suspect acted alone and did not have a \u201cpolitical motive\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rather, they believe she may have been \u201cin a state of mental distress,\u201d Florian Abbenseth, a police spokesperson, told reporters.<\/p>\n
Police later added that its homicide division is investigating the incident as well as the suspect\u2019s motives.<\/p>\n
The attack happened between platforms 13 and 14 \u2013 which are accessible via a busy main road \u2013 while a train was on one of the platforms.<\/p>\n
Some of the victims were treated inside trains, according to reports.<\/p>\n
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the attack was \u201cshocking\u201d and thanked the emergency services on the ground for \u201ctheir rapid assistance\u201d.<\/p>\n
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said four platforms at the station were closed and some services would experience delays and diversions.<\/p>\n
Pictures from the scene show a number of emergency service personnel and vehicles on the ground, and barriers that seem to be hiding the injured from public view.<\/p>\n
One photograph used by German media shows a man being taken away by paramedics on a stretcher.<\/p>\n
A video on social media appears to show the suspect with her hands behind her back being escorted out of the station platform by officers who put her in a police vehicle.<\/p>\n
Hamburg Central Station is one of Germany\u2019s busiest transport hubs, with more than 550,000 travellers per day according to its website. It is often crowded during Friday rush hour.<\/p>\n
This is the latest in a series of violent attacks in Germany in recent months.<\/p>\n
In January, a two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man were\u00a0killed in a stabbing in a park in Aschaffenburg<\/a>, with several others hurt.<\/p>\n A Spanish tourist was\u00a0stabbed just a month later at Berlin\u2019s Holocaust Memorial<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last December, six people were killed and hundreds were injured after\u00a0a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market<\/a>\u00a0in the eastern city of Magdeburg.<\/p>\n