Suspect arrested in knife attack on American on a tram in Germany

Picture: Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP.

A man has been arrested as a suspect in a weekend knife attack on a tram in the German city of Dresden in which a young American was wounded, prosecutors said.

The 20-year-old American was attacked shortly after midnight on Sunday while the tram was at a stop.

Police have said that he intervened when two men harassed a woman on board the tram and was then attacked himself before the men fled.

He sustained a deep wound to the face.

The US Embassy in Berlin condemned the "brutal attack" in a post on Monday on social network X.

"We urge German authorities to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice and punish them to the fullest extent permitted by law," it said.

A 21-year-old Syrian was detained on Sunday, but initially let go because prosecutors did not at that point see grounds to keep him in custody.

Prosecutors and police said in a statement that the man was arrested on Tuesday morning after new information pointed to him having been involved in the attack.

He is now in investigative custody.