German police detain suspect in Munich knife attack

• A man injured four people with a knife in the German city of Munich on Saturday and police detained a suspect matching descriptions by witnesses.
• Police had urged people in the Bavarian capital to stay home after a man on a black bicycle injured the four and attempted to stab two others.

German police officers and emergency personnel stand inside a security perimeter that was set after a man attacked passersby near Rosenheimer square in the southern German city of Munich on October 21, 2017. The man attacked passersby in five places near Rosenheimer Platz in the eastern part of the city centre at around 0630 GMT, inflicting light injuries on four people, a police spokesman told AFP. The perpetrator, described by the police as a man in his forties, wearing grey pants and a running jacket, fled the scene on a black bicycle.

CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images

A man injured four people with a knife in the German city of Munich on Saturday and police detained a suspect matching descriptions by witnesses.

Police had urged people in the Bavarian capital to stay home after a man on a black bicycle injured the four and attempted to stab two others.

Five men and one woman were attacked, Munich police spokesman Marcus da Gloria Martins told reporters.

"We have arrested a person who very strongly resembles the description by witnesses, but we cannot confirm that he is the attacker," Martins said.

None of the injuries were life-threatening, police said.

Police had described the suspect as a corpulent, unshaven man around 40 years old with medium-blonde hair.

Martins added that police were not sure what the attacker's motive was and that they would only name the detained suspect once they had determined that he was behind the attack.

Police believe the man, who seemingly randomly attacked people at several different locations, acted alone.