German police suspect 'religious' motive in teacher stabbing

Policemen are sworn in during the German Chancellor's first official visit as Chancellor to the western federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, on September 1, 2025 in Muenster, western Germany. [AFP]

A Kosovar youth suspected of seriously wounding a teacher in a knife attack at a German vocational college last week may have had a "religious" motive, a local minister said Thursday.

Bild daily reported that the 17-year-old suspect had earlier also stabbed a homeless man in the western city of Essen, and had left a jihadist message on a cellphone video.

Herbert Reul, North Rhine-Westphalia's state interior minister, said initial analysis of digital evidence "indicates that the crime was religiously motivated", speaking to the state parliament's interior committee.

Federal prosecutors, who in Germany handle terrorism cases, are considering whether to take on the case, Reul said.

A 45-year-old female teacher suffered serious wounds when she was stabbed at the college on Friday. She underwent emergency surgery but her life is now out of danger, Reul said.

Officers confronted the suspect around three kilometres (two miles) from the college later the same day and "used firearms" after he drew a knife, police said.

The youth, who was a student at the college according to German media, was himself injured and taken to hospital.

Bild on Thursday partially named the suspect as Erjon S. and reported that he had also stabbed a 44-year-old homeless man ahead of the attack on the teacher.

He then recorded a kind of confession video on his phone, in which he said the teacher had "insulted the prophet" and shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is the greatest), Bild said.

"Investigators now believe that the student, who is in custody on suspicion of attempted murder, was following an Islamist terrorist plan and attacked the teacher for allegedly insulting his faith," the newspaper said.

The BIB vocational college in Essen offers training in nutrition and domestic science as well as social and health care, according to its website.