German prosecutors take over probe into suspected Islamist stabbing that left 2 injured

BERLIN (Reuters) -German federal prosecutors said on Friday that they had taken over an investigation into a suspected Islamist attempt to murder two people in the city of Essen last week.

The suspect, a Kosovar national named only as Erjon S to protect his privacy, is accused of attempting to kill a teacher he was acquainted with in a vocational college on Sept 5 before stabbing a bystander on the street in the back.

The "criminally responsible youth" then allegedly walked to the Old Synagogue in Essen looking for further victims, which he failed to encounter, prosecutors said in a statement.

Both victims were seriously injured in the attack and the suspect sustained a gunshot wound during his arrest.

"The accused acted out of a radical Islamist conviction directed against Germany's liberal society," the statement said, adding that his attack had undermined security in the country.

The federal prosecutor's office assumes jurisdiction over cases when there is a suspected Islamist or national security component.

(Writing by Friederike Heine; editing by Matthias Williams)