Man with knife wounds several in Swiss town: police

GENEVA: A man armed with a knife wounded six people in the streets of the northern Swiss town of Zofingen on Wednesday before being detained, police said.

Some of the victims suffered serious wounds, police said. But they did not immediately release details on the attacker, who they said had suffered self-inflicted injuries, or his motives.

The man first lashed out at a passer-by at the railway station in the town of 12,000 people in the Aargau canton, about 60 kilometres (38 miles) west of Zurich, police said in a statement.

He then wounded several people seemingly at random before entering a house, police added.

Police said in a social media message that six people in all had been attacked.

After two hours of negotiations with a specialised team, the man was arrested, police said. The suspect had injured himself and was initially taken to hospital, said Bernhard Graser, a police spokesman.

Graser told the Zofinger Tagblatt newspaper that the attacker's injuries were self-inflicted.

Police have called for witnesses to share video or photos that may be useful for their investigation.

The Aargauer Zeitung newspaper quoted one man as saying his pregnant wife had been among those attacked. She was cut in the face but her life was not threatened.

Images shown by Aargauer Zeitung showed a large deployment of police and emergency vehicles. The security forces had assault rifles and bullet-proof vests.

A police helicopter landed on a nearby sports field, causing the local youth football team to cut short a training session, the newspaper said.

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