Knife attack at Swiss railway station: Three injured, police label it a terrorist act
A 31-year-old man with dual citizenship attacked three people with a knife at a Swiss railway station on Thursday morning. Police classified the act as a terrorist attack.
Knife attack at Swiss railway station: Three injured, police label it a terrorist act
On Thursday morning at approximately 8:30 a.m., a man attacked several people with a knife at a Swiss railway station. Three people were injured in the attack. The Zurich cantonal police classified the act as a terrorist attack and arrested a 31-year-old man with Swiss-Turkish dual citizenship. The suspect is from Winterthur, a city north of Zurich.
Mario Fehr, the security director of Zurich Canton, called the attack a "repugnant terrorist act". He expressed his conviction that police had brought the situation under very good control and prevented something worse from happening. At a press conference, Fehr also praised a teacher who had positioned herself in front of her pupils to protect them before the man was arrested. "There were several brave people," Fehr said.
Marius Weyermann, the police commander of Zurich Canton, explained that the suspect was already known to police in 2015. At that time, he was reported for spreading propaganda of the militant extremist group Islamic State. "The motive for this act is to be sought in the area of radicalisation and extremism," Weyermann said.
The three victims of the attack were taken to a hospital. One person was stabbed in the leg, another in the neck and a third in the hip. According to Swiss newspaper Blick, the man was said to have run out of the station's main hall whilst shouting "Allahu Akbar". A witness quoted that the man was holding a knife in his hand while people around him screamed and fled. The incident triggered a large police operation.
Source: 24sata