BERLIN: Several people were injured on Friday in an attack by a man wielding a knife on a bus in northern Germany, officials said, although his motive remained unclear.

The packed bus was heading in the direction of Travemuende, a popular beach destination close to the city of Luebeck, when a man pulled a weapon on passengers, Luebeck chief prosecutor Ulla Hingst said.

“The exact number of the injured is still unclear, there is one person who’s seriously injured, but luckily no one was killed,” she added.

The bus driver had immediately stopped the vehicle, allowing passengers to escape.

“The passengers jumped out of the bus and were screaming. It was terrible.

Then the injured were brought out. The perpetrator had a kitchen knife,” a witness who lives close to the scene, Lothar H., told the local daily, Luebecker Nachrichten.

An unnamed female passenger on the bus said one of those injured had only just given up his seat to an elderly woman, “when the perpetrator stabbed him in the chest.”

A police car which happened to be close by arrived at the scene quickly, allowing officers to detain the assailant, the newspaper reported.

Hingst said the man is a 34-year-old German national but that he may have been born elsewhere.

Luebecker Nachrichten had earlier reported that the attacker is an Iranian man in his mid-30s.

The prosecutor meanwhile added that “the background (of the attack) is unclear, we are investigating in all directions, we can not rule anything out at the moment.” Police from the state of Schleswig-Holstein said on Twitter that “people were injured. No one was killed. The perpetrator was overpowered and is now in police custody.” While the motive of the perpetrator has not yet been established, Germany has been on high alert after several deadly Islamist extremist attacks.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2018