The attacker pulled out a kitchen knife sparking chaos on the bus. He began to stab passengers without warning before 14.00 o’clock on a bus to the beach, filled to capacity with people.
According to police, twelve people were injured. Police officers said there were no fatalities but said three people had “medium serious” injuries. At first they did not want to give a motive for the assault.
It is not yet clear how many people were on the bus, but local reports suggest at least 70. The incident happened just ahead the popular Travemuende Woche sailing regatta and festival.
The driver had stopped the bus and opened the doors so that the passengers could escape. The police overpowered the stabber and arrested him.
According to a Luebeck newspaper it could be a 34-year-old man from Iran with German citizenship. The facts are still unclear, said attorney Ulla Hingst. “Nothing can be ruled out, not even a terrorist background.”
Police however later tweeted: “There are currently no indications the man was political radicalised and no signs of a terrorist background.”
The ordnance clearance service is meanwhile looking into a suspicious backpack the stabber was carrying. Witnesses had reported that the stabber had thrown it while it was smoldering just before the attack.
An unnamed female passenger on the bus said one of those injured had only just given up his seat to an elderly passenger “when the perpetrator stabbed him in the chest”. Other witnesses described scenes of “carnage”.
One passenger told the Luebecker Nachrichten: “Passengers jumped out of the bus and screamed, it was terrible, and then the injured were taken away.” Police dispatched a “large deployment” to the scene of the attack.
Germany’s security services estimate there are around 11 000 Islamic radicals in Germany. Some 980 are deemed to be particularly dangerous and capable of violence, but only a hundred and fifty of these potentially dangerous individuals have been detained by law enforcement.
Libya has meanwhile refused to allow Europe to establish “hot spot” camps on its territory to hold migrants rejected by the EU, because there could be terrorists among them.