Suspect arrested in Germany for knife attack on US man

A man has been arrested in connection with a weekend knife attack on a tram in the German city of Dresden in which an American national was wounded, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old male victim was attacked just after midnight on Sunday while the tram was at a stop.

Police said 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 social media. “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 detained on Sunday over the attack was initially let go because prosecutors did not at that point have grounds to keep him in custody.

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