Teenager detained after two killed in knife attack in shop in Czech Republic

An assailant attacked and killed two women with a knife at a shopping centre in the Czech Republic on Thursday, officials said, and a Czech teenager was later arrested for the crime.

It was not immediately known what the motive for the attack was in the city of Hradec Kralove, some 100km (60 miles) east of Prague.

Police said on X, formerly Twitter, that there was no indication of a “terror attack”, and that the attacker apparently chose victims at random.

The victims were not immediately identified. Reports initially said they had been injured, one of them seriously, but police later confirmed they had both died.

Police detained a 16-year-old Czech national about one kilometre (less than a mile) from the scene, shortly after the attack. A knife was found nearby.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala offered his condolences to the relatives of the dead, posting on X: “What has happened in Hradec Kralove today is an absolutely incomprehensible and horrible act.”

Police said the situation was under control, there was no danger to the public and that security in the city had not been boosted. No other details were immediately available.