Three wounded by Swiss train station stabber allegedly yelling ‘Allahu akbar’

GENEVA — A man stabbed and wounded three people at the train station in the Swiss city of Winterthur on Thursday before being arrested, police said.

The attack happened shortly after 8:30 a.m., Zurich regional police said in a statement. They said that the motive of the suspect, a 31-year-old Swiss man, is under investigation.

The three victims — all of them Swiss, ages 28, 43 and 52 — were taken to hospitals. No information was given on the severity of their injuries.

Police said the suspected perpetrator — a 31-year-old Swiss man — had been arrested and that his “motive is under investigation.”

Attacks targeting random passersby are rare in Switzerland.

Images broadcast by several Swiss media outlets and on social media showed a man with long dark hair and a full beard running in front of the station shouting “Allahu akbar!” (Arabic for God is the greatest), while raising his right hand.

“I heard a man scream ‘Allahu akbar’ five or six times, in a very agitated manner,” one witness was quoted as saying by newspaper Blick.

Several witnesses quoted by Swiss media said he was armed with a knife.

In the footage, filmed from a distance on a mobile phone, the man, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, is seen running past a group of young children apparently on a school trip, without stopping.

A group of schoolchildren were passing the area at the time and their teacher moved to protect them, the BBC reported citing local media.

Am Bahnhof Winterthur (Schweiz) soll ein Mann mehrere Personen mit einem Messer verletzt haben. Bei seiner Flucht schrie er: „Allahu Akbar“. https://t.co/fnTcRHTXPg pic.twitter.com/P6usg0FBN3

— NIUS (@niusde_) May 28, 2026

Winterthur has about 123,000 residents and is located in northeastern Switzerland, near the country’s biggest city, Zurich.