Germany Knife Attack : 3 killed, 5 seriously injured

BERLIN: Three people have been killed and five others were critically injured in a knife attack in southern Germany yesterday by a 24-year-old Somali immigrant who had recently been placed under compulsory mental care, according to officials.

In the town of Wuerzburg, police fired a round into the attacker's leg, stopping and arresting him, however, his injuries were not life-threatening, they added.

Among the three dead in the knife attack was a young boy and one of his parents, reports said.

After arriving on the spot, regional Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said, "As things stand, three people are dead and five people are gravely injured." "We don't know if the most critically injured will survive."

Since 2015, when Germany opened its borders to nearly a million migrants and refugees fleeing conflict and poverty, the man had lived in Wuerzburg.

"His condition had been observed in recent months, including violent inclinations, and he was placed in mandatory mental treatment a few days ago," Herrmann added. The suspect's name was not released, as is normal procedure in Germany.

According to videos of the knife attack posted on social media, until police arrived, a presumably barefoot man wielding a large knife was fended off by other men wielding chairs, Blood was seen on the ground in another footage.

The videos appeared to match the reported location of the attacks on and around Wuerzburg's central Barbarossaplatz, though it was not able to confirm when they were shot.

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