Cologne hostage siege ends, captor severely injured by police forces

Police were successful in severely wounding the captor who had taken a girl hostage in the Breslauer Platz area here on Monday.

An official press release by the Cologne Police confirmed that the hostage-taking situation occurred at a pharmacy at Cologne Central Station. Two people were injured by the captor before he took the girl hostage.

The police revealed that the captor had lit a Molotov cocktail in a restaurant which wounded a 14-year-old girl. The attacker then ran out of the restaurant and went to a pharmacy in the vicinity, where he took the woman hostage, according to Sputnik.

The identity of the culprit and the hostage have not been revealed. Immediate medical care was provided to the hostage as she was injured while being held. The detained captor has been resuscitated as he continues receiving intensive medical care after being 'severely wounded' in the siege.

German police later added that a passport had been found at the pharmacy, which had been issued to a 55-year-old Syrian man who has permission to stay in Germany till mid-2021.

The police are investigating the motive behind the hostage-taking, and have not ruled out terror linkages, reports Sputnik.

The crime scene was cordoned off, as trains were delayed during the siege. The area has regained normalcy, and trains have gradually started plying on the route.