Police probe Berlin knife attacker for Islamist motive

BERLIN, Germany — Berlin police say Tuesday they were unable to rule out an Islamist background after a “deranged” Syrian knifeman was arrested over an attack in one of the German capital’s underground stations.

Witnesses said the 23-year-old, identified as Ahmad Al-H., attacked several people with a knife “for no apparent reason” at the Bayerischer Platz station in southwestern Berlin on New Year’s Eve, according to a police report.

But the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that he had asked one 50-year-old German man his nationality and called him an “infidel” before stabbing him. Other people attacked by the knife wielder including a mother with a young child who escaped unharmed, according to Tagesspiegel.

Police said only that the attacker — who the paper reported was known to officers after being involved in several brawls — “seemed deranged” when they arrested him in response to emergency calls.

Following the arrest, officers brought the knifeman to a clinic and had him examined by a psychiatrist.

— AFP