A 28-year-old man from Afghanistan was arrested following a knife attack on Wednesday in a park in the German city of Aschaffenburg in which two people were killed, including a toddler, police and the state health minister said.

The suspect deliberately attacked a kindergarten group in the park with a kitchen knife, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said, Reuters reported.

A 41-year old passerby, a German man, and a two-year old boy of Moroccan descent were fatally injured, while a Syrian two-year old girl was injured, he said.

The suspect was detained at the scene in Schoental park, an English-style garden in the city, where the attack took place on Wednesday morning.

Three other people were also wounded, including a 61-year-old man, a child and a teacher, Bavarian Health Minister Judith Gerlach said.

The suspect, who had a history of violent behaviour, was undergoing psychiatric treatment. He had had his asylum process closed and said he would voluntarily leave Germany in December, but had not left and remained under treatment, Herrmann said.

The stabbings add to a string of violent attacks in Germany that have raised concerns over security and migration ahead of parliamentary elections on Feb. 23.

"An initial search of his accommodation in the asylum shelter did not reveal any signs of radical Islamist tendencies but only medications consistent with his psychiatric treatment," Hermann added.

Police said there was no indication there might be further suspects involved in the incident.

On Dec. 20, six people were killed and around 200 hurt when a Saudi doctor rammed a car into people strolling at a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg.

In August, Germany said it resumed flying convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country.

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi will soon visit Kabul, its embassy announced on Thursday.

The embassy did not provide further details about the visit.

A foreign ministry official in Kabul said however that the visit could take bilateral relations to a new level.

Zakir Jalali, director of the third political department of the Foreign Ministry, said on X that the common political, economic and security interests between Afghanistan and Iran are an opportunity to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

“The upcoming visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi to Kabul is a constructive step towards strengthening these relations and can take relations between the two countries to a new level."

This comes after acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met Wednesday with Iran’s new ambassador to Kabul where discussions focused on strengthening bilateral ties.

Ali Reza Bigdeli took over as ambassador early last month. He succeeded Hassan Kazemi Qomi.

In addition, Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq and Iran's Special Envoy for Kabul and director general for South Asia, Hashem Ashjazade, met on Monday in Islamabad for talks.

Sadiq is also expected to travel to Russia and China to discuss Afghanistan with officials from those countries.

The Islamic Emirate has said repeatedly that Kabul seeks good relations with all neighboring countries and the region, and aims to strengthen its ties with various countries by following an economy-focused policy.

The US State Department suspended its refugee program Tuesday night, halting all refugee flights into the United States, under direction of President Donald Trump’s executive order, but the suspension does not apply to Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders.

The US State Department said in a memo to resettlement partners that the flights of refugees scheduled to travel to the United States have been cancelled, CNN reported.

Approximately 10,000 refugees had travel booked, which is now canceled. They include citizens of Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Venezuela, Syria and Burma.

There are more than 1,000 Afghan refugees in Doha, CNN cited a US government official as saying, and several thousand, up to as many as 10,000, in Pakistan. But there are other Afghan refugees in “many, many countries around the world … whose cases will now just be stopped,” the official said.

These include those who are not SIV holders, according to the official.

While the US State Department has made it clear that the suspension does not apply to SIV holders, Trump’s order has ignited fears that he could halt this program as well, according to Kim Staffieri, executive director of the Association of Wartime Allies, a group that helps Afghans and Iraqis resettle in the United States.