Berlin [Germany], January 23 : As many as two people including a toddler were killed and three others sustained injuries in a brutal knife attack in a park in Aschaffenburg, southern Germany, The Washington Post reported.
The two deceased include a 2-year-old boy of Moroccan origin and a 41-year-old German man.
Three others, including a 72-year-old German man, a 59-year-old German woman, and a 2-year-old Syrian girl, were also injured, police confirmed in a statement Wednesday.
According to authorities, the suspect, a 28-year-old Afghan man, was arrested shortly after the attack. The motive behind the stabbing remains unclear, and police are working closely with the public prosecutor's office to identify a motive.
While visiting Aschaffenburg late Wednesday afternoon, Bavaria's interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said the suspect had "suddenly and deliberately" targeted a child in a day-care group.
According to The Washington Post, the slain man was a passerby who apparently intervened to protect the children. The 59-year-old injured woman is a caregiver with the group, police said in the statement.
Further, Hermann added that "at the moment, the suspicion is very strongly that he obviously has mental illnesses," adding that the search of the suspect's living quarters found no evidence of an Islamist motive.
The suspect was known to police for violent crimes, and had been given psychiatric treatment and released each time, Hermann told reporters.
He sought asylum after entering Germany in mid-November 2022 but announced his voluntary departure in writing last month. His asylum procedure was then discontinued and he was asked to leave the country. He is still receiving psychiatric care.
Notably, the attack comes at a time when Germany is already on high alert following a deadly incident at a Christmas market in Magdeburg last month.
Six people were killed and nearly 300 injured when a driver rammed his car into a crowd. The suspect, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, was arrested and found to have extreme anti-Islamic views.
Ahead of Germany's election on February 23, that attack prompted a more severe tone on migration policy, which 37 per cent of German voters identify in polls as the most important issue that politicians must address, according to The Washington Post.
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