Knife man kills baby, ex-wife in German train station

The 33-year-old suspect initially ran off but then phoned police, who arrested him inside the Jungfernstieg underground station.

A man from Niger stabbed to death his German ex-wife and their one-year-old daughter in a brutal attack in a busy train station Thursday, police said.

Emergency personnel of the fire brigades stand in front of an entrance to the blocked Jungfernstieg subway station in Hamburg, northern Germany, on April 12, 2018, after a stabbing. (AFP)

The bloody knife killings took place mid-morning in the busiest subway station of Hamburg, Germany’s second-biggest city.

“The crime was very, very terrible in its execution, very targeted and very, very extreme,” said police spokesman Timo Zill.

“We currently assume it was a crime of passion.”

The 33-year-old suspect initially ran off but then phoned police, who arrested him inside the Jungfernstieg underground station.

Police said the child died immediately in the attack around 0850 GMT and the 34-year-old woman succumbed to her injuries in hospital.

Police and firefighters responded in large numbers, and trauma counselling was offered to witnesses and emergency responders.