A knife attack by a 28-year-old Afghan man in a park in the German city of Aschaffenburg left two people dead, including a young child, and the country's Prime Minister Olaf Scholz denounced it as " Act of Terror" and was subsequently arrested. .

With a month left in a snap election campaign dominated by debates on immigration and asylum policy, Scholz demanded an "immediate explanation" from the authorities as to why the attacker is still in Germany.

A two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man were allegedly killed while trying to help the children, police said. Two other victims were seriously injured in the stabbings, and the motive was unclear, police said, noting that the investigation was still in its early stages.

Local media reported that the attackers targeted a group of children at a day care center in the park. According to news outlet Der Spiegel, the suspect was staying at an asylum center in the area. Other media reports said the man had been treated for psychological problems.

Friedrich Merz, chairman of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the election front-runner, said he was deeply shocked by the violence. "This cannot continue," he said in a statement. "We must and will restore law and order."

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which ranks second in the polls, posted on X: "Immigration now!" referring to the party's highly controversial mass deportations Immigrants and asylum seekers appeal.

Train services in Aschaffenburg were temporarily suspended as the suspect tried to escape along the tracks, but police quickly took him into custody.

Scholz described the violent attack as an "act of unexplainable terror" that required "immediate consequences — words are not enough."

"I am tired of this violence that occurs every few weeks," he said in a statement. "Assailants come to us for protection. A false tolerance is completely inappropriate."

Markus Söder, the conservative prime minister of Bavaria, where the attack took place, called it a terrible day for his state and posted on X denouncing it as a "cowardly and despicable act."

The second detainee is considered a witness and there are currently no signs of any accomplices to the attackers.

It was the latest in a series of violent attacks in Germany, sparking calls for tighter security measures ahead of the February 23 election.

A month ago, a Saudi doctor with reported far-right, anti-Muslim sympathies was arrested after a car rammed into a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing six people and injuring about 200 others.

In June, a police officer died after intervening in a knife attack on an Afghan man at an anti-Islam rally in Mannheim in the southwest.

In August, a mass stabbing incident occurred at a street festival in the western city of Solingen, killing three people and injuring eight others. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and police arrested a Syrian suspect.

After that attack, just weeks before three key state elections, the Scholz administration responded by tightening rules on knives in public places, restricting benefits for asylum seekers and taking action to allow for faster deportations of those seeking asylum People whose applications were rejected.

Merz's CDU has vowed to impose a tougher line on immigration, including a de facto ban on new asylum applications at the border.