Swiss police arrested a 31-year-old man after a stabbing near Winterthur railway station that injured multiple people, including one victim reported in serious condition.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A knife attack near a railway station in Winterthur, Switzerland, left three people hospitalized Thursday morning and prompted a major police response after witnesses reported that the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the incident.
Swiss authorities arrested a 31-year-old man near the Winterthur railway station after several people were attacked. Police described the suspect as a Swiss citizen. The victims also were identified as Swiss citizens, ages 28, 43 and 52, though officials released no additional details about them.
Three victims were taken to the hospital. Two suffered moderate injuries, while a third was reported in serious condition. Police said an investigation is underway and have not announced a motive or said whether the attack will be classified as terrorism.
The Swiss German-language newspaper Blick reported that eyewitness accounts and video from the scene showed a heavily bearded man in casual clothing, including a black T-shirt, shouting “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “Allah is the greatest,” before he was arrested.
Footage described in the report showed the alleged attacker running along the front of the station as a teacher moved herself between the man and her pupils while trying to guide the children away from danger.
One witness at the station told Blick that he heard the shouting behind him as the attack unfolded.
“I heard a man behind me shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ five or six times, very emotionally and agitatedly,” the witness said, adding that he saw children running for cover.
A taxi driver who witnessed the incident said police officers already patrolling near the station moved quickly to intervene.
“I saw him rush out of the ramp and try to stab a man… a passerby fought back with all his might… If those security forces hadn’t come out of the station so quickly, I don’t know what would have happened,” the taxi driver said.
The attack occurred in Winterthur, a city in the canton of Zurich on the Swiss Plateau. Britain’s Daily Telegraph noted that Switzerland has largely avoided the waves of Islamist terrorism seen elsewhere in Europe over the past two decades, but Winterthur has been among the Swiss cities where concern over Islamism has been more pronounced.
The city was previously home to a controversial mosque that was raided by police in 2016 after its Somali-born imam allegedly called for murder. The mosque was associated with young men who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State and was later shut down.
Authorities have not said whether Thursday’s stabbing had any connection to Islamist extremism. Police continued investigating the circumstances of the attack, the suspect’s actions and any possible motive.