2nd LD Writethru: 4 wounded in axe attack on German train

An axe wielding man wounded four passengers in a late Monday night attack on a regional train near Wuerzburg in the southern German state of Bavaria, local police confirmed.

A police spokesperson said among the four passengers, three were in critical condition while the other one suffered from minor injuries. The rest 14 passengers on the train, which runs between Treuchlingen and Wuerzburg in Bavaria, were left unhurt.

The attacker was shot dead by the police, said a spokesperson for the Bavarian Interior Ministry, adding that he appeared to have acted alone.

The spokesperson also said the man attacked the passengers with an axe and a knife shortly after arriving at Wuerzburg.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the man, identified as a 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, was shot while trying to attack the police.

The minister also noted that the young man possibly shouted Islamic words, but he would not go into details, noting that it has to be verified.

The police at the moment refused to comment on the motive of the attack.

In May, a 27-year-old young man stabbed four victims at a train station near Munich in Germany, killing one and injuring the other three. Endi