Police at Winterthur train station
Keystone / Claudio Thoma
The stabbing of three people at Winterthur train station by an Islamic attacker has been described as an act of terrorism.
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Mario Fehr, canton Zurich director of security, referred to the incident as a “terrorist act.” “I previously used this term when describing the attack on an Orthodox Jew in Zurich-Wiedikon,” he told a news conference.
The attack at around 8.30am on Thursday left a 28-year-old man with stab wounds to the leg. He is expected to be released from the hospital soon. A 43-year-old man was injured in the neck and has already been released from the hospital. A 52-year-old man sustained a stab wound to the thigh and remains in hospital.
Several eyewitnesses told the newspaper Blick, that the man shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack.
Police arrested a suspect shortly afterwards. Marius Weyermann, commander of the Zurich cantonal police, described him as a 31-year-old Swiss-Turkish dual citizen from Winterthur.
The man is known to the police and was a suspect in connection with the investigations against the An’Nur Mosque in Winterthur ten years ago. At that time, the man was charged with violating a criminal ban on the terror group ISIS.
According to Mario Fehr, the suspect was born in Switzerland in 1994 and naturalised in 2009. In 2024, he moved to Turkey and, according to the authorities, only reappeared in Switzerland in May 2026.
On May 25, he contacted the city police and made “incoherent statements.” As a result, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. On May 27, a doctor certified that he no longer posed a danger to himself or others, and he was allowed to leave the clinic.
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Three stabbed in attack at Swiss train station
Adapted from German by AI/mga
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