Ennepetal, Germany ? German police commandos slipped into a house where a knife-wielding man was holding four schoolgirls hostage Tuesday, surprising the suspect and taking him into custody while rescuing his captives after a five-hour standoff.

The man inflicted a superficial knife wound on the stomach of a 16-year-old hostage, whom he held with three 11-year-olds, before he was captured by a police SWAT team lead investigator Ulrich Kuhne said.

Police earlier said the suspect, identified as a 50-year-old Iranian asylum-seeker who has been in Germany since the 1990s, was injured as he was overpowered, but Kuhne gave no further details.

The man apparently wanted to be allowed to bring his children from Iran to Germany.

The SWAT team acted with particular caution, because the man was known to have psychological problems and the house in which he held the girls was owned by a hunter who had rifles and handguns on the premises, Kuhne said.

Police jumped the man after he had bound his four captives together to take them to the bathroom, Kuhne said.

The man had pulled the girls off a public bus he commandeered and forced them into the basement of the home.

The man forced the bus driver to stop and hustled the group of captives off the bus, but apparently let several of them go.

He forced the others toward a house where a woman was returning home and forced her to give him the front-door key, Marvin Schulte said. The man pushed the woman aside, shoved the children into the house and locked the door. Neighbors said the man lived in the area.