One person died and two others were injured, including a male suspect, in a stabbing attack in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, police reported.
Witnesses reported that the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” during Thursday’s attack. That is an Arabic phrase meaning God is great.
Police spokesman Wessel Stolle said officers continued to investigate the motive behind the attack. Both the surviving victim and the suspect were taken to hospital for treatment. Police decided not to release their identities.
According to local media, the suspect stabbed his first victim in a parking garage near the landmark Erasmus Bridge. Then he went outside and fatally stabbed another person. Eyewitnesses reported that the suspect carried two large knives and attacked random people.
Reniël Renato David Litecia, a sports instructor, said he hit the attacker with two sticks when he saw him assaulting someone and managed to seize the knives and throw them away.
It was a man with two long knives who was stabbing another young guy and when I started shouting, he turned around and started approaching everyone who was around him.
The Netherlands notified the EU that it was abandoning migration rules, migration minister Marjolein Faber declared on Wednesday. Discussions about stricter security measures and migration policies in the EU countries erupted after a stabbing in the German city of Solingen on 23 August.
