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The 17-year-old – who was an “unaccompanied minor refugee” according to the Bavarian Interior Minister was wiedling an axe and knife as he boarded the train.

Police found a hand painted copy of an Islamic State flag in the bedroom of the foster home where the German train attacker lived. He had only been with the foster parents for a fortnight.

The severely wounded are a family and their friend holidaying from Hong Kong. They are a father aged 62, his wife, 58, a daughter aged 27 and the daughter's boyfriend, 31. The 17-year-old son of the couple was uninjured.

Police said the father and the boyfriend tried to fight the attacker off but were severely cut with his knife.



Groteqsque images printed in German newspapers showed lino-covered floors of the regional train RB 58130 travelling from Treuchtlingen to Würzburg awash with blood.

Following the attack, the 17-year-old refugee then went on the run, with a huge police force, including a helicopter, in pursuit.

A police spokesman confirmed he has since been shot while fleeing the scene.

Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian's interior minister described the event as a "truly terrible act, one we have never experienced in Bavaria before."