German police shoot dead man who tried to attack them with knife

Hours earlier French officers stopped similar assault attempt

German police officers stand at the crime scene in front of a police station in Gelsenkirchen, Germany (STEPHAN WITTE/EPA)

Police in Germany have shot dead a man who was trying to attack them with a knife.

The man hit a police car with an object outside a police station in the western city of Gelsenkirchen and then charged at the officers with the item in his hand on Sunday night, a police spokesman said.

As he approached the officers, they saw he had a knife in his other hand and he refused several orders to stop.

A policeman then shot and killed him.

The man reportedly shouted ”Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic, as he approached the officers.

Police are investigating whether extremism was a motive for the attack, the German news agency Dpa reported.

The agency said the attacker was a Turkish citizen and it was unknown if he also had a German passport.

On Friday, Germany revised its terror threat level following the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in US drone strike earlier in the day.

The attempted attack came hours after French police shot and wounded a man who rushed towards them with a knife while shouting “Allahu akbar” in the city of Metz.

The local prosecutor’s office said the suspect was on an official list of people monitored for links to militant groups.