A screenshot taken from an AP video shows the scene of the axe attack on a train near Wuerzburg in the southern German state of Bavaria, on July 18, 2016. [Screenshot: CRIENGLISH.com]
A 17-year-old Afghan refugee wielding an axe and a knife attacked passengers on a train in southern Germany on Monday night.
Four Hong Kong citizens were injured, including two in critical condition.
Kenneth Tong with the Senior Immigration Office Hong Kong Residents Unit says the victims were injured in the head and abdomen respectively.
“Two of the Hong Kong residents have sustained serious injuries. As far as we know, they have undergone surgeries. They still need further medical treatment and remain in critical condition.”
The officer added that the two female tourists were stable.
Meanwhile, Germany’s police union chief Rainer Wendt said on Tuesday that such assaults could not be prevented.
“We must not labor under the illusion that more police and security forces personnel can fully prevent such incidents. When a determined individual wants to commit acts of violence, then they will do so, and we cannot prevent these individual cases. We can respond appropriately to the situation but it is unrealistic to believe that we can be everywhere at once with lots of personnel in all the train stations and airports to prevent armed attacks from radicalized individuals.”
He says introducing airport security standards would paralyze the public travel system, hence is impossible.
Instead, the chief has demanded that police officers be more “adequately” and “better” equipped.
The 17-year-old attacker has been living in a home for unaccompanied minors in the country.
Local authorities are still looking into the motives.
The attack took place days after a Tunisian delivery man ploughed a truck into crowds of Bastille Day revellers in the southern French city of Nice, killing 84.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks.
