Six Pakistanis and a Syrian were attacked by at least 20 unknown assailants late on Sunday in separate incidents in the German city of Cologne, the police said. Two of the Pakistanis were hospitalised, while the 39-year-old Syrian sustained minor injuries, reported AFP.

German leaders had warned against targeting migrants after reports emerged that "Arab-looking men" had carried out coordinated sexual assaults against women in Cologne on New Year's Eve. The police said that around 516 complaints had now been lodged in the city, 40% of which were related to sexual assault. As many as one million asylum seekers, many of them from conflict-ridden Syria, fled to Germany in 2015, according to reports.