HAMBURG - German police arrested a woman after at least 17 people were injured in a knife attack at the main station in the northern city of Hamburg.
Some of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries in the stabbing, which took place in the middle of the city's evening rush hour, emergency services said.
The suspect, a 39-year-old German woman, was arrested at the scene by law enforcement, a Hamburg police spokesman said.
Officers "approached her, and the woman allowed herself to be arrested without resistance", Florian Abbenseth told journalists in comments carried by public broadcaster ARD.
"We have no evidence so far that the woman may had a political motive," Abbenseth said.
"Rather, we have information based on which we now want to investigate whether she may have been experiencing a psychological emergency."
The suspect was thought to have "acted alone", Hamburg police said in a post on X.
At least 17 people were injured in the attack, a spokesman for the Hamburg fire department told AFP.
Four of them had suffered life-threatening injuries, the spokesman said, revising down an initial figure.
Among the 17 victims were six severely injured people and seven people with light injuries, the spokesman for the fire department said.
The attack was reported by German media to have taken place just after 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) on one of the platforms in front of a standing train.
The suspect was thought to have turned "against passengers" at the station, a spokeswoman for the Hanover federal police directorate, which also covers Hamburg, told AFP.
Some of the victims in the attack were treated onboard waiting trains in the station, German daily Bild reported.
Images of the scene showed access to the platforms at one end of the station blocked off by police and people being loaded into waiting ambulances.
Forensic police could also be seen walking up and down the platforms where the attack took place.
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said on X that four platforms at the station had been closed while investigations were ongoing.