Afghan teenager shot dead in Germany after axe and knife attack

German police shot dead a 17-year-old Afghan who attacked train passengers with an axe and knife, seriously injuring three people, officials said.

An interior ministry spokesman stressed that the investigation was ongoing and that the assailant appeared to have acted alone.

Several other people were also injured in the attack on a regional train near the southern German city, police said.

Herrmann said the attacker was a 17-year-old Afghan who had lived in nearby Ochsenfurt.

He said the young man had arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Germany and had lived at first in a shelter and then more recently with a foster family in nearby Ochsenfurt.

The attack happened around 9:15 pm (1915 GMT) on the train, which runs between Treuchlingen and Wuerzburg in Bavaria.

"Shortly after arriving at Wuerzburg, a man attacked passengers with an axe and a knife," a police spokesman said.

"Three people have been seriously injured and several others lightly injured."

He added: "The perpetrator was able to leave the train, police left in pursuit and as part of this pursuit, they shot the attacker and killed him."

There were no further details on the circumstances of the teenager's death, and police declined to suggest what the motive was for the attack.

"At this time everything is possible," the spokesman said.

In May, a mentally unstable 27-year-old man carried out a similar knife attack on a regional train in the south, killing one person and injuring three others.

Early reports suggested he had also yelled "Allahu akbar," but police later said there was no evidence pointing to a religious motive. He is being held in a psychiatric hospital.