AKIPRESS.COM - A 19-year-old Afghan who stabbed two American tourists in Amsterdam was shot just nine seconds after he launched his attack, the city's police chief has revealed, BBC reports.

Commissioner Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg said a special "spotter" had been watching the suspect when he pulled out a knife at Amsterdam's central station.

Moments later teenager Jawed S was shot in the hip, he said.

The suspect's lawyer has revealed the man had expected to die in the attack.

Police say the central station in Amsterdam has long been identified as a potential target for attack and that they have a permanent team on duty.

They adapted an Israeli approach called "predictive profiling" whereby a suspect can be identified through suspicious patterns of behaviour.

"First of all a spotter assesses what behaviour is normal in a particular place," police trainer Geoffrey Rijtslag told the Volkskrant newspaper.

Anyone who deviated from that or started hanging around aimlessly was considered abnormal. At that point they would be approached by at least two officers.

The Amsterdam police chief said there were other indicators that spotters would consider too. Anyone who was waiting for a train would normally be expected to look at departure boards.