GERMANY: German police were last night questioning a 54-year-old man who held four schoolgirls hostage at knifepoint for five hours yesterday afternoon.
Special forces stormed a house in the western town of Ennepatal, near Essen, yesterday evening, freeing the girls, aged between 12 and 16, and arresting the man.
The hostage drama began shortly before 1pm when the man, believed to be from Iran, boarded a bus at the local secondary school and threatened the driver with two knives.
He then rounded up 10 schoolchildren on the bus and tied them together with a rope, reportedly telling them: "I'm not going to hurt you. I love you like my own children. My children are in Iran. I want a reunion." As he hurried them off the bus, six managed to run for safety.
The hostage-taker forced the schoolchildren into a residential cul-de-sac and pushed past a woman who opened the door of her house to see what was going on. He dragged the four girls into the basement of the house and barricaded the door behind him.
Police began telephone negotiations with the man, who was allegedly demanding the immigration of his family from Iran to Germany. Special forces stormed the house shortly after 6pm.