Wuppertal suspect held after students wounded at German school

Five students have been wounded in an apparent knife attack at a school in the western German city of Wuppertal. 

According to a teacher, the pupils were attacked with a knife and a pair of scissors, German media reported. 

A 17-year-old has since been arrested, he was also among those wounded and is also a student at the Wilhelm-Dörpfeld secondary school.

It’s understood that teenagers at the school barricaded themselves in their classrooms. 

Details of the attack are not yet clear, but cops said they launched a major operation shortly before 10:00 (09:00) on Thursday. 

The school was then evacuated and roads around it were closed off.

“Students have been injured,” police said in a statement on social media, adding later that the school had been cleared and all the students were safe and being looked after.

Police spokesman Stefan Weiand told the Westdeutsche newspaper that the students were “understandably shaken”.