This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Nine people have been injured after a man started wielding a knife on a bus in Lübeck, northern Germany.

The bus, which was carrying about 70 people, was passing through the city’s Kücknitz district on Friday afternoon when the suspect, 34, dropped his rucksack and started attacking passengers, six of whom sustained stab wounds, with a further three injured through punches or falls.

Police were able to detain the suspect, believed to be a German citizen of Iranian origin who lived in Lübeck, after he was overpowered by passengers.

A witness told the newspaper Neue Lübecker Nachrichten the bus driver immediately stopped the vehicle after the first attack and had the presence of mind to open the doors despite being targeted.

A police car that happened to be close by was able to get to the scene quickly, allowing officers to detain the suspect, according to local news reports.

Police said in a tweet that there was no indication the perpetrator had been politically radicalised.

Polizei SH (@SH_Polizei) Die Identität des Täters ist geklärt: Ein 34-jähriger deutscher Staatsangehöriger mit Wohnsitz in #Lübeck. Es liegen aktuell keine Hinweise auf eine politische Radikalisierung des Mannes + derzeit auch keinerlei Anzeichen auf einen terroristischen Hintergrund vor. #Kücknitz

A spokesperson for the state prosecutor said: “Nothing can be excluded, including a terrorist background.”

According to the newspaper Bild, police found a fire accelerant inside the suspect’s rucksack.

Witnesses spoke of harrowing scenes on the bus. “One of the victims had just given up his place to an older woman when the attacker stabbed him in the chest,” Lübecker Nachrichten quoted one as saying.

Maikel Henkel said: “Suddenly there was smoke and screaming, and then the man came to the back of the bus wearing sunglasses and a winter jacket and started randomly attacking people with a knife.”