One person was stabbed and another seriously injured in an attack in Rotterdam

One person was killed and another seriously injured in a knife attack late Thursday in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, police said. Police arrested a suspect who was also injured.

Police spokesman Wessel Stolle said officers were investigating the stabbing near the famous Erasmus Bridge. Stolle said there was no immediate information on the motive, but “we are examining all possible scenarios.”

The Dutch daily newspaper “De Telegraaf”, citing witnesses on the scene, reported that a man randomly attacked people with two knives while shouting “Allahu akbar”, the Arabic phrase meaning “God is great”.

Stolle said police on the scene also heard the man shout the phrase and that “it was part of the investigation.”

A physical education teacher, Reniël Renato David Litecia, said he hit the attacker with two sticks after seeing him attack someone and managed to take the knives from him and throw them away.