Hamburg stabbing attack: Woman arrested after 17 people injured in knife attack at train station

A woman has been arrested after at least 17 people were stabbed in a knife attack at Hamburg train station in Germany that has left some victims with life-threatening injuries.

At least 17 people have been stabbed in a knife attack at the main station in the northern city of Hamburg in Germany overnight.

Four of the victims are in a critical condition after the attack which happened about 6pm (GMT) on a platform in front of a stationary train during the city’s evening peak hour.

The suspect, a 39-year-old German woman, was arrested at the scene, a Hamburg police spokesman said.

The woman did not resist arrest when approached by police officers, Florian Abbenseth told public broadcaster ARD.

“We have no evidence so far that the woman may had a political motive,” Abbenseth said.

“Rather, we have information based on which we now want to investigate whether she may have been experiencing a psychological emergency.”

The suspect was thought to have “acted alone”, Hamburg police said in a post on X.

Police at the scene at Hamburg’s main train station where at least 17 people were stabbed. Picture: Jonas Walzberg / AFP

The suspect was thought to have turned “against passengers”, a spokeswoman for Hanover federal police told AFP.

Some of the victims in the attack were treated on waiting trains at the station while the most critical were taken to hospital.

Images of the scene showed access to the platforms at one end of the station blocked off by police and people being loaded into waiting ambulances.

Forensic police could also be seen walking up and down the platforms where the attack took place.

Investigators work at Hamburg Central Station after a knife attack during peak hour. Picture: Georg Wendt / dpa / AP

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said on X that four platforms at the station had been closed while investigations were ongoing.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also expressed his shock in a call with the mayor of Hamburg following the attack.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Merz said, according to a readout from his spokesman Stefan Kornelius.

Police block roads around Hamburg’s Central Station following a stabbing attack on 17 commuters. Picture: Jonas Walzberg / AFP

Germany has been rocked in recent months by a series of violent attacks with often jihadist or far-right extremist motivations that have put security at the top of the agenda.

The most recent — at a bar in the city of Bielefeld last Sunday — left four people with multiple stabbing injuries.

The investigation into the attack had been handed over to federal prosecutors after the Syrian suspect in the attack told the police officers who arrested him that he had jihadist beliefs.

Police and forensic officers on the railway platform at Hamburg’s main train station after the knife attack. Picture: Jonas Walzberg / AFP

The question of security — and the immigrant origin of many of the attackers — was a major topic during Germany’s recent election campaign.

The vote at the end of February saw Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU top the polls and a record score of over 20 per cent for the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany.