Armed man with knife attacks passengers on Swiss train, injuries reported

Sputnik
Sat, 13 Aug 2016 16:53 UTC

© AP Photo/ Keystone, Dominic Favre

According to AFP, an armed man has attacked Swiss train passengers, injuring at least seven people.

At least seven passengers were injured on a train in Switzerland after a man attacked them with a knife, AFP reports citing police sources.

A man reportedly set a train carriage on fire and then stabbed several passengers, police say. Swiss media report that a six year old child might be among those injured during the attack.

According to local police officers, the attacker is a 27-year old Swiss man. He reportedly poured flammable liquid in a train in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen and set it on fire.

Police said the train had suffered damages upwards of 100,000 Swiss francs ($103,000, 92,000 euros).

The victims included two men aged 17 and 50, and three women aged 17, 34 and 43. Dozens of people were on the train at the time of the attack, the police statement said.

"At least one child is among those wounded," Bruno Metzger, a spokesperson for St. Gallen police, is quoted as saying by St. Galler's Tagblatt newspaper.

The attack occurred around 12:20 GMT as the train was approaching Salez station.

Several dozen passengers were on board at the time of the attack.

Comment: Update, with more details from RT:

The attack happened at 2:20 p.m. local time as the train was traveling between the towns of Buchs and Sennwald, located in northeast Switzerland. According to Radio FM1, the perpetrator spilled the flammable liquid on a female passenger and then set it on fire.

"Apart from a large presence of St. Gallen canton police, fire brigades, three helicopters and two emergency doctors," have been dispatched to the site of the attack, police said.

Authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the case and are looking into possible motives for the attack.

"We do not know where the man entered the train and whether he knew some of the passengers," Krüsi said. Law enforcers were not able to talk to the train driver in the immediate aftermath of the assault since the person "was in shock and could not provide any details."

"A crime of passion" is one of the possibilities the Swiss police is currently investigating, Reuters reports. The outlet adds that, according to the police spokesperson, "a terrorism background still seems very, very far-fetched."