Knifeman attacks 6, sets train on fire

A man set a train carriage in Switzerland on fire using a
flammable liquid and also stabbed passengers Saturday,
injuring six people, including a six-year-old child, police said
A man set a train carriage in Switzerland on fire
using a flammable liquid and stabbed passengers
on Saturday, injuring six people including a six-
year-old child, police said.
The attack was the latest in a string of violent, often
deadly assaults in Europe in recent months, with
many claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group.
The motive for Saturday’s attack was not
immediately clear, police told AFP.
“According to the information we have for the time
being, the 27-year-old Swiss man poured out a
flammable liquid … (which) caught fire,” police said,
adding that the man “was also armed with at least
one knife”.
The man carried out the attack on a train travelling
in Switzerland’s far east, along its border with
Liechtenstein, and was also injured, regional police
in the city of Saint Gallen said in a statement.
Police said the attack had taken place at around
2:20 pm (1220 GMT) near the Salez station on a
train running between Buchs and Sennwald and
that some of the injuries were serious.
Seven people including the suspected attacker were
admitted to various hospitals with burn and stab
wounds, the statement said.
The victims included two men aged 17 and 50, three
women aged 17, 34 and 43 and the six-year-old
child. Dozens of people were on the train at the
time of the attack, the police statement said.
A massive contingent of rescue workers rushed to
the scene, including police, firefighters, ambulances
and three rescue helicopters.
The Salez station remains closed, and police said
replacement buses had been set up.
Saint Gallen prosecutors have opened a criminal
investigation into the attack.
The attack is the latest in a string of brutal assaults
in Europe in recent months that have left the
continent on edge.
In January 2015, a jihadist assault on the Charlie
Hebdo satirical newspaper in Paris left 12 dead
while another four died in an attack on a Jewish
supermarket in the city.
In November 2015, a coordinated jihadist attack
claimed by IS in Paris left 130 people dead.
On March 22 this year, suicide bombers struck
Brussels airport and a metro station in another
coordinated jihadist attack claimed by IS near the
European Union headquarters, killing 32 people.
On July 14, a Tunisian man rammed a truck into
crowds of revellers in the southern French city of
Nice, killing 85 people.
Swiss neighbour Germany has also seen a string of
attacks in recent weeks.
In July there were two attacks by migrants in the
southern state of Bavaria — an axe rampage on a
train and a suicide bombing.

In Munich, an 18-year-old German-Iranian also
went on a gun rampage in a shopping mall, leaving
nine people dead.
In Belgium, meanwhile, a lone gunman armed with
a Kalashnikov and other arms in August 2015
opened fire on a train but was overpowered by
passengers.