Police in Tehran have shot dead a man who attacked a cleric and other people with a knife at a subway station, Iran’s state media reported.

Hadi Tamhidi, deputy governor of the Shar-e Rey district in south Tehran, said the unidentified man attacked the clergyman with a knife after a dispute and injured another man.

Reports said that the knife wielder had attacked several people who tried to rush to the cleric’s aid.

Police shot and wounded the assailant, who later died of his injuries, Tamhidi said.

He said the assailant was mentally disturbed.

A spokesman for the metro said traffic at the Shar-e Rey station had returned to normal after the incident.

Police said they are investigating the incident.

Based on reporting by Reuters, Fars, and ISNA </s> Tehran police shot dead a man who attacked a clergyman and other people with a knife at a metro station today. ― Reuters picDUBAI, July 15 — Tehran police shot dead a man who attacked a clergyman and other people with a knife at a metro station today, Iranian state television reported.

Hadi Tamhidi, deputy governor of the Shar-e Rey district in south Tehran, said the unidentified man attacked the clergyman with a knife after a dispute, and injured another man.

Police shot and wounded the assailant, who later died of his injuries, Tamhidi said, adding that the assailant was mentally “unbalanced”.

A spokesman for the metro said traffic at the Shar-e Rey station had returned to normal after the incident. — Reuters </s> DUBAI (Reuters) - Tehran police shot dead a man who attacked a clergyman and other people with a knife at a metro station on Saturday, Iranian state television reported.

Hadi Tamhidi, deputy governor of the Shar-e Rey district in south Tehran, said the unidentified man attacked the clergyman with a knife after a dispute, and injured another man.

Police shot and wounded the assailant, who later died of his injuries, Tamhidi said, adding that the assailant was mentally “unbalanced”.

A spokesman for the metro said traffic at the Shar-e Rey station had returned to normal after the incident. </s> Police said four people were injured by the 40-year-old assailant, according to Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency.

Security forces at the station asked the attacker to hand over his weapon but he refused, forcing them to open fire, injuring him in the leg, IRNA cited the police information center in Tehran as saying. He died from his injuries on the way to the hospital.

"The incident is a singular one and has no terrorist background," IRNA quoted police as saying.

The attack occurred at the Shahr-e-Rey metro station south of Tehran.

The district governor, Hadi Tamidi, said the incident occurred as a result of a dispute between the attacker and a cleric, IRNA reported. The assailant then used the knife against the cleric and others. The situation in the subway station is under control and subway trains are moving normally, Tamidi added. </s> A knife attacker has been shot dead outside the Iranian ambassador's residence in Vienna, police say.

According to local police, the 26-year-old Austrian was killed on Sunday just before midnight after he attacked a security guard while trying to enter the ambassador's residence in Vienna's Hietzing district.

Austrian police spokesman Harald Moeser said that the assailant "died on the spot" after the guard shot him four times, after pepper spray failed to stop him.

The crime scene has been closed off by the police, who said the motive of the attacker is still unclear.

The Austrian police added that a security guard was injured in the attack and transported to hospital for treatment.

The attack came several hours after Iranian Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad announced that he had been threatened with death by a member of an extremist religious group, which recently carried out an attack on the Islamic Republic's embassy in London.

A number of attackers scaled the wall of Iran's Embassy building in London on Friday and took down the Iranian flag.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, British police did nothing to protect the compound during the attack.

Iran on Saturday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran over the attack on its diplomatic mission in London. </s> A man armed with a knife has been shot dead outside the Iranian Ambassador's home in Vienna.

The 26-year-old Austrian "died on the spot" at around midnight after a soldier, who was standing guard outside the building, opened fire.

The soldier tried to disarm the attacker with pepper spray before opening fire at least four times, police spokesman Harald Soeros said.

The motive for the attack is not yet known.

According to early indications, the soldier "acted within the rules", a spokesman from the ministry of defence was quoted as saying.

The official added that the soldier, who is from the Tyrol region, was treated in hospital for a wound to his arm.

Police have ordered reinforcements around all diplomatic missions in the city.

The incident comes just days after two knife attacks in Vienna, including one that left a couple and their 17-year-old daughter with severe injuries.

A 23-year-old Afghan national confessed to those assaults but denied any political motive. </s> LONDON — Two people are dead and six were wounded in a stabbing in the city of Turku, western Finland, police said Friday. A hunt was underway for potential attackers, they added.

One suspected attacker was shot in the thigh, according to police who urged citizens to leave the immediate area in the center of the city while they searched for "possible more perpetrators."

The Turun Sanomat newspaper reported that at least one person was killed in the attack.

Pictures from the scene showed rescuers attending to the wounded.

Jesse Brown, a 29-year-old who is currently unemployed, said he saw part of the incident unfold.

"I saw police shoot a man. People were running and there was talk about possible knife attackers," he said. "I saw an injured person, a man, at the market square."

He said the injured person was "covered in blood."

Palman Afzali, a 26-year-old Afghan-born Finnish citizen, said he was leaving work as a nurse when he heard someone shout, followed by screams. He then saw a young man chasing people and stabbing them with a large knife.

"He was trying to hit people with the knife," Afzail told NBC News. "I ran past bodies on the ground, I saw a woman I think was already dead — I can't get her face out of my mind."

The police were not in the area to stop the individual, but normal people attempted to chase him down, Afzali said.

Riitta Koskela said she was about 100 yards from the square. "My daughter had stopped at a movie theatre to use the restroom when I saw people running and screaming," she said. "We hid in the restroom and more people ran in. The security locked the doors and kept us safe. Didn't know whether it was just one crazy person or more.”

She added: "I saw people screaming and running and took my family into hiding."

Jussi Marttila arrived at the scene some 15 minutes later.

"There are a lot of people in the street. It's fairly calm but the atmosphere is tense," he said. "There is a strong police presence and some ambulances in the market square. The environment is very tense and rumors are going wild." </s> A knife attacker on Friday stabbed two people at Amsterdam's Central Station before being shot by police in a suspected terror attack, Dutch police said.

The suspect was identified late on Friday evening as a 19-year-old Afghan man with a German residency permit.

"We are seriously taking into account that there was a terrorist motive," Frans Zuiderhoek, Amsterdam police spokesman, told AFP.

Witnesses described scenes of panic earlier as gunshots sounded and thousands of commuters and tourists were evacuated from the rail terminus shortly after midday.

"Around 12.10 a man in the west side tunnel of Amsterdam Central Station stabbed two other people and directly after that he was shot by the police," another police spokesman Rob van der Veen said, adding terrorism was not being ruled out by investigators.

"The two people are very badly injured, and they were brought to the hospital," he said.

"We are looking at all scenarios, also the worst scenario, which is terrorism."

Policemen and forensic scientists are at work after a stabbing incident at the central station in Amsterdam Credit: REMKO DE WAAL/AFP

One witness said he saw a young man "stumble" into his flower shop at the station with a bleeding wound to his hand.

"Shortly afterwards I heard some shots and I know something has gone badly wrong," Richard Snelders told the ANP news agency. A while later he saw another man lying on the ground nearby, he said.

"The first thing that comes up in your mind is that it's a terror attack. After all, you are at Amsterdam Central Station. There was a lot of panic," Snelders said.

Police quickly arrived at the scene with video images showing police ordering the suspect in English to "stay down" after he had been shot.

"It happened really quickly," Mr Snelders said.

Images posted on social media showed security guards ushering passengers towards exits and paramedics arriving at the scene with stretchers.

Mr Zuiderhoek said the knifeman's condition was not life-threatening, but that he had been shot in the lower body.

"At this moment he is under police custody in hospital. He is being questioned about his motive," Mr Zuiderhoek added.

Dutch police were also in close contact with their German counterparts in regards to the suspect's background, he added.

Policemen are at work after the stabbing incident Credit: SEM VAN DER WAL/AFP

Initially, police said that the station - located in the Dutch capital's historic canal-ringed city centre - had been evacuated and closed off to all rail traffic.

However, police shortly afterwards issued an update to say there was "no talk" of a complete evacuation and that only two platforms had been closed off to passengers.

A special police department opened a routine probe into why police shot the man.

The Netherlands has so far been spared from the spate of terror attacks which have rocked its closest European neighbours in the past few years.

But amid reports that people linked to those attacks may have crossed into the country, senior Dutch security and intelligence officials have warned of an elevated risk.

Passengers are pictured outside the Central Railway Station in Amsterdam Credit: GERMAIN MOYON/AFP

Police declined to speculate on the reasons for Friday's incident, but the Afghan Taliban in a statement Thursday called for attacks on Dutch troops following plans by Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders to stage a Prophet Mohammed cartoon competition in the Dutch parliament.

The plan angered Muslims and sparked protests before Mr Wilders, who received several death threats, announced he was cancelling the competition, saying he wanted to "avoid the risk of making people victims of Islamist violence".

About 250,000 people travel through Central Station every day, according to statistics provided by the Amsterdam.info travel guide. </s> The two wounded people and the knife-wielding suspect are taken to the hospital, Amsterdam police say, although their condition was not revealed

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Two people were stabbed at Amsterdam's busy Central Station on Friday, August 31, before the alleged attacker was shot and wounded, Dutch police said.

"A suspect has been shot after a stabbing incident at Amsterdam Central Station," Dutch police said on Twitter.

It is not known at this stage whether the incident is terror related.

Police told Dutch media that the assailant's motive was unknown, and later tweeted that they were "looking at all scenarios."

Initially, police indicated that the station – which is located in the Dutch capital's historic canal-ringed city center – had been evacuated and closed off to all rail traffic.

However, police shortly afterwards issued an update to say there was "no talk" of a complete evacuation and that only two platforms had been closed off to passengers.

The two wounded people and the knife-wielding suspect were taken to hospital, Amsterdam police said, although their condition was not revealed.

A witness told the local Amsterdam AT broadcaster that the attacker was a man in his 30s.

One of the victims is believed to be a young foreign man who was stabbed in the hand.

Multiple police vehicles and ambulances were seen outside the large red-brick station, while red and white police tape cordoned off an area.

Images posted on social media by people at the station showed security guards ushering passengers towards exits and paramedics arriving at the scene with stretchers.

The Netherlands has so far been spared from the slew of terror attacks which have rocked its closest European neighbours in the past few years.

But amid a number of scares and reports that people linked to some of the attacks may have crossed briefly into the country, concerned top Dutch security and intelligence officials have stressed that the threat level is substantial.

Around 250,000 people travel through Central Station every day, according to statistics provided by the Amsterdam.info travel guide.

Trams, which leave from the front of the station were not running, police said, adding that more information was not immediately available. – Rappler.com
An attack by a man armed with a knife in Tehran Metro's Shahr-e-Rey Station leaves two injured. The attacker is shot dead by the police.