A woman and her child have died after being stabbed by her ex-husband at a busy subway station in central Hamburg, police said.

The knife attack happened on Thursday morning at the Jungfernstieg station in Germany’s second-biggest city.

Parts of the train lines were temporarily shut down as police responded.

Fire engines attend the scene in central Hamburg (Eckart Gienke/dpa via AP)

The assailant, who was the child’s father, was arrested, police said.

None of those involved was identified and it was not clear what triggered the attack.