German police are carrying out a helicopter search for a man who stabbed two passers-by in the eastern city of Erfurt early on Monday morning, police said.

The two victims, aged 45 and 68, were being treated in hospital, and had not suffered life-threatening injuries. Police described the attacker as being in his twenties, with light hair and a scarred face. He spoke German, they added in a statement.

Investigations are continuing into a knife attack in the town of Wuerzburg on Friday, in which three people were killed. Police are considering Islamist extremism as a motive in this case.