Heavily armed police units deployed to the German city of Cologne Monday after shots were reported to have been fired and a hostage taken at the city’s central rail station.
Travellers were ordered to evacuate the large central station, which sits on Cologne’s Dom Platz beneath the city’s historic cathedral early Monday afternoon.
Locally published newspaper the Koln Express reports a hostage was taken in a pharmacy inside the station and that fire engines were also called after officers responding to the incident smelt burning.
Travelers pass by a fire truck as they leave the Central Station in Cologne, western Germany on October 15, 2018. – German police on October 15, 2018 closed down Cologne’s central railway station to deal with what they called an ongoing “hostage situation”. An unknown man, possibly armed, was holding captive a woman inside a pharmacy shop in the central railway hub, a police spokesman told news channel NTV / OLIVER BERG/AFP/Getty Images
Police officers stand in positions in the Central Station in Cologne, western Germany on October 15, 2018 / OLIVER BERG/AFP/Getty Images
Shockingly, the paper also reports unconfirmed claims that the attacker attempted to set his hostage, a woman, on fire.
German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports shots have been fired at the station, although it is unclear by who.
COLOGNE, GERMANY – OCTOBER 15: Police stand outside Cologne main railway station on October 15, 2018 in Cologne, Germany. Police confirmed that there is a possible hostage scenario at a pharmacy located inside the station building. Police have sealed off the premises and trains have been cancelled. (Photo by Michael Gottschalk/Getty Images)
Photo by Michael Gottschalk/Getty Images
Cologne’s central station itself is a major interchange for trains across Germany and Western Europe. The square to the south-west of the building is this century perhaps best known for having been the site of the 2015-16 New Year’s Eve sex attacks, which saw hundreds of sexual assaults, dozens of rapes, as well as thefts and other crimes perpetrated against young German women by predominantly migrant males.
The square and other areas surrounding the station were subsequently the scene of demonstrations against, and in favour of mass migration in response to the crimes.
This story is developing
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