Berlin: A mayoral candidate for the western German city of Cologne suffered serious stab wounds Saturday during campaigning for Sunday's poll, police said.
Henriette Reker, a independent close to the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel, was attacked by a 44-year-old man police said, indicating her assailant had been arrested.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
Four other people were hurt in the same incident but their condition was not known.
CDU regional chairman Bernd Petelkau told local media she had been stabbed in the stomach, while other reports said she had been injured in the neck.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas dubbed the attack "an unimaginable and abominable act" while regional president Annelore Kraft saw it as an "assault on democracy."
Reker is seen as standing a good chance of securing the mayorship Sunday in Cologne, Germany's fourth-largest city with 980,000 inhabitants.
The attack came as Germany struggles to cope with a huge influx of asylum seekers, whose numbers are expected to reach between 800,000 and a million by the year's end.
Merkel's open-door policy has provoked a backlash among her conservative allies and sparked protests among the far-right.
Henriette Reker, a independent close to the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel, was attacked by a 44-year-old man police said, indicating her assailant had been arrested.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
CDU regional chairman Bernd Petelkau told local media she had been stabbed in the stomach, while other reports said she had been injured in the neck.
Advertisement
Reker is seen as standing a good chance of securing the mayorship Sunday in Cologne, Germany's fourth-largest city with 980,000 inhabitants.
Advertisement
Merkel's open-door policy has provoked a backlash among her conservative allies and sparked protests among the far-right.
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Germany's Angela Merkel Says Will Step Down As Chancellor In 2021 Angela Merkel's Conservatives Clinch Victory In Key State Vote: Exit Polls Donald Trump Signs Order To Bar Some Refugees; Signals Prioritising Syrian Christians 9 Dead, 2,800 Hurt As Pagers Explode Across Lebanon, Hezbollah Blames Israel "Wear Proper Undergarments": Delta Airlines' New Memo For Flight Attendants IndiGo Flight Tailstrike Leaves Huge Dent During Take-Off From Delhi Airport Mohana Singh Becomes First Woman Fighter Pilot In LCA Tejas Fighter Fleet How Google Search Reunited Two Senior Citizens With Their Families Russian Group Behind Fake Kamala Harris Hit-And-Run Story: Microsoft Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.