A Swiss woman known to the nation’s security services has been arrested in the southern city of Lugano after a suspected terror attack.
A 28 year old on the federal police radar, she is reported to have stabbed one woman in the neck using a knife and to have choked another before being apprehended by other shoppers in the store where the attacks took place.
The woman who was stabbed is now reported to be in serious condition in a nearby hospital although her injuries are not deemed life threatening.
The Lugano region is primarily Italian speaking and is located just north of the Italian city of Milan.
The suspect is herself a local resident from the Ticino region with a history of “jihadist terrorism” according to early reports.
Reactions have been swift to the attacks. “A department store in Lugano was the scene of a suspected terrorist-motivated attack on several people,” the local federal attorney-general’s office said soon afterwards, while Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz also took to Twitter to condemn the attack.
“My thoughts are with the victims wishing them a full & swift recovery. We stand with Switzerland in these difficult hours,” Mr. Kurz said, before adding “My thoughts are with the victims wishing them a full & swift recovery. We stand with Switzerland in these difficult hours.”
