A man has been arrested after several people were stabbed outside a railway station in the Swiss city of Winterthur on Thursday morning, with witnesses reporting that the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the assault.
The attack took place shortly before 8.30 a.m. local time outside Winterthur station, around 20 kilometres northeast of Zurich, during the morning rush hour. At least four people were injured. Three victims were taken to hospital, including one person who suffered serious injuries.
Roger Bonetti, a Zurich cantonal police spokesman, confirmed that the suspect had been detained. “The perpetrator was arrested by the police,” he told local media, adding that the motive for the attack was “still under investigation.”
Video footage circulating online appeared to show a man running outside the station entrance while holding a knife and repeatedly shouting “Allahu Akbar.” Witnesses described scenes of panic as commuters fled the area.
“I arrived at the train station around 8:20 a.m.,” one witness said. “About 30 metres away, I heard a man behind me shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ five or six times. He sounded extremely emotional and agitated.”
A local newspaper reported that a teacher shielded a group of schoolchildren during the attack.
Although Switzerland has not experienced Islamist violence on the same scale as countries such as France, Germany, or Belgium, the country has faced several suspected Islamist attacks in recent years.
In 2024, a teenage boy who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State seriously wounded an Orthodox Jewish man in Zurich in a stabbing attack. In 2020, a suspected Islamist fatally stabbed a man in a kebab shop in Morges.
Winterthur has also drawn attention in recent years over concerns surrounding Islamist extremism. The city was previously home to a mosque linked to youth radicalisation and jihadist recruitment networks before it was closed down.
In March last year, two young men from Winterthur were sentenced by Switzerland’s federal criminal court for supporting and spreading propaganda for Islamic State.
In June, Switzerland is set to hold a referendum, backed by the Swiss People’s Party, that would seek to cap the country’s population at 10 million through tighter immigration controls. Supporters of the proposal argue that rising immigration is placing pressure on housing, infrastructure, and public security.
