A 4-year-old girl was attacked in a supermarket in southern Germany on Wednesday afternoon and taken to hospital with serious injuries.
The background to the crime remains unclear. According to the police, the alleged perpetrator is a stranger to the girl and her mother.
"The two did not know each other until then, and there was probably no previous relationship," said a police spokeswoman about the suspect and the girl.
According to initial findings, the 34-year-old man with Dutch and Syrian citizenship suddenly attacked the girl with a knife and seriously injured her. The child was immediately taken to hospital and operated on. She is in a stable condition.
A witness in the supermarket observed the attack and intervened. "He took the knife away from the man and then chased him," police said.
The suspect left the shop after the offence. "The witness called the police and told us where the man was. That's how my colleagues were able to arrest him." The suspected offender was arrested without resistance.
The discount store in Wangen in Allgäu in the south-west state of Baden-Württemberg was open to customers again as usual on Thursday morning, a dpa photographer on site said. There were no traces of the crime from the previous afternoon in the supermarket.
The suspect was due to appear before a magistrate late on Thursday afternoon to decide whether to remand him in custody. According to the police, the 34-year-old did not initially comment on the allegations.
The police emphasized that the attack on the toddler was not an everyday case: "Offences of this kind are very rare."
The mayor of Wangen emphasized that his thoughts were with the family, whom he knew. "I have never experienced an offence like this before, nor have we here," said Michael Lang in the town hall on Thursday.