THE HAGUE – A knife-wielding assailant in Amsterdam seriously wounded five people — including two from the United States, one from Belgium and one from Poland — in a stabbing attack Thursday on a busy shopping street, Dutch police said.
The attack lasted several minutes before the assailant was stopped by a passerby near the city's Dam Square in the late afternoon. Police cordoned off the area and several ambulances and a trauma helicopter were called to the scene.
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Authorities said in a statement that no motive had been established for the attack, but that police were considering a scenario where the man targeted victims at random.
The victims were identified as a 67-year-old woman and a 69-year old man from the United States, a 73-year-old woman from Belgium, a 26-year-old man from Poland and a 19-year old Dutch woman from Amsterdam.
“The police investigation is in full swing and has full priority at the moment. We hope to soon get more clarity about the background of this horrible stabbing," Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said in a statement. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and loved ones,”
The assailant was injured when he was overpowered by a bystander. “The suspect was detained with the help of a civilian,” police spokesperson Eline Roovers told The Associated Press.
Last year, the city experienced several stabbings attributed to people with mental health issues. Amsterdam set up a hotline last month for residents to report concerns about irrational behavior. The reporting mechanism was recommended after an investigation showed that a man was stabbed to death by his neighbor.