A knife-wielding man attacked train passengers in North-Eastern Switzerland then lit himself and the train on fire near the Salez-Sennwald train station, officials said.
Seven people were seriously injured — including a six-year-old child — by what police are referring to as a man with a common Swiss last name.
The attack occurred around 2:30 PM on Saturday just before the train reached the Salez station, in a region close to the country of Liechtenstein.
“According to current information a 27-year-old Swiss man poured out a flammable liquid. He was also armed with at least one knife. The liquid caught fire,” police said in a statement released to the media.
Officials are not ruling out terrorism as a motive but say the 27-year-old attacker has no immigration history.
“We can neither exclude nor affirm that this was a terrorist act,” St Gallen regional police spokesman Bruno Metzger told the media on Saturday.
Along with the six-year-old child, Police said those wounded include three women aged 17, 34 and 43, as well as two men aged 17 and 50.
Police say a criminal investigation is underway but did not release the identity of the attacker.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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