Police say a man injured 4 with a hammer on a German train before he was detained

BERLIN — A man on a long-distance train in southern Germany attacked and slightly injured four people with a hammer Thursday before he was detained by police, authorities said.

Police in Straubing said the attack happened on an ICE express train headed from the northern Germany city of Hamburg to the Austrian capital of Vienna while it was between Straubing and Plattling in the southern state of Bavaria.

About 500 people were on board when the attack happened, police said.

About 150 police officers, firefighters and emergency personnel were deployed to the scene, police added. The railway line was closed down.

Police initially said the perpetrator used an axe in the attack but later said he allegedly used a hammer and likely other weapons which they did not further name. They identified the man as a 20-year-old Syrian national.

Police did not provide further details on the identity of the attacker or his motive, but later said that he was overpowered by fellow passengers and had also been injured.

The perpetrator “is probably somewhat more seriously injured,” a police spokesperson told German news agency dpa. He was in police custody and receiving medical treatment.

The four injured passengers, who were not identified, were taken to nearby hospitals.

According to the Bavarian Red Cross, the emergency services were alerted at around 2 p.m. local time, after passengers pulled the emergency brakes. The train came to a halt near the village of Straßkirchen, dpa reported.

The Red Cross said a special care center was set up nearby to take care of passengers. In addition to numerous rescue services and two helicopters, psychological caregivers were deployed to help those who were not injured but might have been traumatized.

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said in a statement that “our thoughts and sympathy are with the injured and all those who now have to come to terms with what they have experienced,” and thanked emergency services for the quick arrest of the suspect.

Germany has seen several violent attacks in public spaces in recent months.

In May, a woman stabbed and injured more than a dozen people at Hamburg’s central station. In February, a driver plowed into a demonstration in Munich, killing two and injuring more than 20.

In December, a man killed six and injured more than 200 when he drove a car through a Christmas market in Magdeburg.