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Syrian asylum-seeker in Germany kills woman with machete

BERLIN - Police say a Syrian asylum-seeker killed a woman with a machete and wounded two others outside a bus station in the southwestern German city of Reutlingen before being arrested.

Police spokesman Bjoern Reusch said in a statement Sunday that witnesses said the 21-year-old man, who was known to police, was having an argument with the woman before attacking her about 4:30 p.m. Police say the motive behind the attack is still not clear.

The attack comes as Germany is on edge following a rampage at a Munich mall on Friday night in which nine people were killed, and an ax attack on a train a week ago by a young Afghan migrant that left five wounded in southern Germany.

Police said the attacked in Reutlingen had caused injury previously, but did not give details, reports the BBC.

Germany has taken in an estimated one million migrants and refugees in the last year from several conflict zones, straining public services and giving rise to a spike in anti-immigrant sentiments in Germany.

For many Germans, the tipping point was New Year's Eve in Cologne. Most of the suspects identified in connection with an extensive series of robberies and sexual assaults in Cologne during New Year's celebrations were later identified as refugees by Germany prosecutors.

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