Known Islamist Shot Dead in Berlin after Knife Attack on Police Officer

German police have shot dead a convicted Islamist in Berlin who stabbed a policewoman with a knife and seriously injured her, the BBC reported.

Police were called to Spandau district, in western Berlin, after reports that a man was wielding a knife in the street, threatening passers-by. The man seriously injured a female police officer before another officer shot and killed him.

Rafik Yousef, who was born in Iraq, had previously been jailed for involvement in a plot to kill Iraq's former prime minister Ayad Allawi during a visit to Berlin in 2004. Yousef, 41, was convicted to eight years in jail in 2008 on charges of belonging to of Ansar al-Islam, radical Islamic group linked to al-Qaida.

He was released on bail  in 2013 and had to wear an electronic tag but Germany couldn't deport him "as he had refugee status and was at risk of being killed" in Iraq, according to the BBC.