Germany: Iraqi al-Qaeda Islamist Rafik Mohamad Yousef killed by police after Berlin knife attack

German police have killed a suspected Islamist after he attacked a policewoman with a knife in Berlin. Rafik Mohamad Yousef, a 41-year-old Iraqi, lived in the city and was considered part of the capital's Islamist scene.

"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 Ayad Allawi," Berlin police said on Twitter. Prosecution service spokesman Martin Steltner identified the man as "Rafik Y".

A passer-by called police to report of the incident on Heerstrasse, in western Berlin's Spandau area. Four police cars reached the area; the man attacked one of the officers who got out of her car was subsequently shot dead by the other officers.

The 41-year-old died of his injuries, according to dpa German news agency. The policewoman injured in the attack was flown to a hospital in a rescue helicopter. Berlin's homicide squad is currently investigating the case.

In 2008, Yousef was one of three Iraqi men sentenced to jail terms for belonging to Ansar al-Islam, an Iraqi militant group with close links to al-Qaeda. He was sentenced to prison by the regional court in Stuttgart in 2008 for membership of a terrorist organisation and freed on bail but ordered to wear an electronic tag. He reportedly removed the tag before the attack.