A NEWLY elected German mayor is reportedly fighting for her life after a brutal knife attack outside her home.
Iris Stalzer, 57, was allegedly stabbed 13 times in the stomach and back by “several men” in North Rhine-Westphalia.
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Her 15-year-old son is said to have found the SPD politician seriously wounded inside her home.
She reportedly told him she had been assaulted on the street before managing to get back indoors.
Stalzer’s 17-year-old daughter was inside the flat at the time, according to Bild.
The two children phoned the police who rushed round to the politician’s home.
They urgently placed her on a stretcher and escorted her on to a rescue helicopter.
Stalzer was then flown to the Knappschaft University Hospital in Bochum where she is now receiving treatment.
She is believed to still be in a critical condition.
The motive behind the attack remains unclear.
Police have since issued a major alert and launched a large-scale manhunt for the culprits.
A homicide squad is expected to take over the case, local media reported.
Stalzer had only been elected mayor for a town in the Ruhr region in a runoff vote on September 28.
She narrowly won with 52.2% of the vote against centre-right Christian Democrat candidate Fabian Conrad Haas.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke about the attack on social media: “We have received news of a terrible deed in Herdecke,”
“It must be swiftly investigated. We fear for the life of the mayor-designate and hope for her full recovery.”
The stabbing comes shortly after an Albanian judge was shot dead inside his own courtroom.
A man on trial opened fire, killing the presiding judge and injuring two others during a heated property dispute hearing.
The gunman was identified by cops as E.Sh., who was a 30-year-old defendant in the case.
The judge was rushed to hospital after the horror Monday attack but “succumbed to his injuries on the way,” police confirmed.
The other side in the dispute — a father and son — were also hit and remain in hospital but are stable, officials said.
Local reports suggest the gunman opened fire because he believed he was about to lose the case.
Police arrested the shooter at the scene and seized the revolver used in the attack.
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