Germany police shoot Berlin Islamist after knife attack

Police investigators secure the scene where officers shot dead an Islamist knifemanAFP/Getty

The Iraq-born Islamist shot dead by police had been jailed for a plot on the life of Iraq's former prime minister

Police in Berlin have shot dead an Islamist who stabbed and seriously injured a policewoman.

Rafik Yousef, who was born in Iraq, had previously been jailed for involvement in a plot to kill Iraq's former prime minister Iyad Allawi in Berlin in 2004.

The policewoman, 44, was also shot in the exchange. Her condition is described as serious but stable.

Officials said Yousef should have been wearing an electronic tag as part of his parole conditions.

The officers had been called to reports of a man threatening passersby in the suburb of Spandau with a knife.

AP

Rafik Yousef, seen here in court in 2008, was shot dead after attacking a policewoman

Yousef had lived in Germany since 1994, according to local media reports (in German).

"He had been convicted of being a member of a terrorist association and of being involved in a plot to murder the Iraqi prime minister," Berlin police said on Twitter (in German).

In 2008 he was jailed for eight years but was freed in 2013, banned from leaving Berlin and required to wear an electronic tag.

However, the German authorities were unable to deport him as he had refugee status and was at risk of being killed in his native Iraq.