Portuguese police shoot dead knife-wielding kidnapper, possibly German

Portuguese police have shot and killed a man, described as a German citizen by some local media, who had taken another person hostage at knifepoint in an apartment on the outskirts of Lisbon on Thursday.

Portuguese police have shot and killed a man, described as a German citizen by some local media, who had taken another person hostage at knifepoint in an apartment on the outskirts of Lisbon on Thursday. In a statement, police only confirmed that the hostage-taker had died of his wounds, but provided no details on him or his hostage, and declined to elaborate when contacted by Reuters.

The assailant was "of great physical stature and armed with two-edged weapons", with which he had seriously wounded the hostage, the statement said. Attempts to free the victim had resulted in an officer being stabbed, so police opened fire, it said.

Correio da Manha newspaper cited a police source as saying the man was a German tourist, who was apparently drunk and deranged when he attacked other foreigners in the apartment in Alges, a neighbourhood by the river Tagus that is popular with tourists.

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