Dusseldorf: An axe attacker who injured seven people at Dusseldorf train station on Thursday night acted alone and suffered from mental health problems, police have said in a statement.
Authorities said that the man is a 37-year-old from the former Yugoslavia, who currently lives in the western German city of Wuppertal and "obviously suffers from mental health problems"
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German police detain suspect after axe attack
Dusseldorf's train station remains closed after an axe attack and police have arrested a suspected assailant.
Station authorities were first alerted to the attack at 8:50pm. The man allegedly attacked passengers on a local train before also swinging the axe at others in the train station's main hall.
Three people were seriously injured, while four others sustained minor injuries, police said.
![Special police forces walk into the main train station in Dusseldorf following an axe attack.](/web/20170311200316im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/u/z/h/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guuz15.png/1489158160708.jpg)
"German federal police were on the scene very, very quickly and were able to make sure the situation was static and that victims were being looked after," a spokesman told journalists, as he described the moments after the attack.
He said that when police pursued the suspect he jumped from a bridge.
"He injured himself badly and is now being treated in hospital," the spokesman said, before adding that the person had been arrested and the axe seized.
Train services into Dusseldorf station were temporarily cancelled or rerouted before the station was reopened after midnight local time.
![Dusseldorf train station has been locked down by police.](/web/20170311200316im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/u/y/n/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guuz15.png/1489158160708.jpg)
A major search of the station was also conducted, including a number of trains where passengers were forced to stay on board. A police helicopter was also seen circling above the station.
The city's mayor, Thomas Geisel, expressed his sympathy to victims of the attack, writing on Twitter: "Our thoughts are with the injured after the terrible act at Dusseldorf main train station. Thanks to all emergency services."
![Police and emergency workers outside the main railway station following what police described as an axe attack.](/web/20170311200316im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/u/y/o/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guuz15.png/1489158160708.jpg)
It's not the first occasion in Germany in recent times that a mentally ill person has attacked train passengers with an axe. In July last year, a 17-year-old asylum seeker, carrying a knife and an axe, launched an attack on a regional train near the city of Wuerzburg, injuring five.
A station attendant told the German newspaper Bild: "We were standing on the track, waiting for the train. The train came, and suddenly someone jumped out with an axe, hit the people. There was blood everywhere."
BREAKING NEWS; Video of the aftermath of #Düsseldorf axe attack.#Germany #Terror pic.twitter.com/c3cSiPkaHb
— Deplorables One Mind (@Roses_4_Thorns) March 9, 2017
— BreakingNews (BreakingNLive) M…
#Dusseldorf tonight: Man with Axe attacks people in Train station in #Dusseldorf,#Germany,Multiple people got wounded. pic.twitter.com/E6cT1H6gCE
— Maurice Schleepen (@MauriceSchleepe) March 9, 2017
One passenger, Bruno Macedo, tweeted: "Breaking: Man with axe chased by police in Dusseldorf. Station closed . I am in the train things look bad #police #terror"
He added: "Stay away from #Dusseldorf train station crazy man with #axe on the lose [sic]".
An amateur video apparently shot from the scene showed a shell-shocked eye-witness walking around blood stained floors as police tended to a wounded person on the ground.
"The guy just started striking at people with an axe," the unidentified man in the video says. "I've never seen anything like that in my life, directly next to me he started hitting people with an axe."
The country in on high-terror alert following several recent attacks. The Dusseldorf attack comes less than three months after a truck was driven into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12.
A police spokesman said there was no serious threat of further attacks. "We are not using the words 'rampage' or 'terror'," he said.
DPA