Swiss prosecutors rule out terror motive in knife attack

Swiss prosecutors said in a statement Thursday that they have ruled out terror as a motive for a knife attack that wounded six people in the north of the country.

The accused assailant, a 43-year-old Spaniard, attacked people on the streets of Zofingen with several knives on Wednesday before being arrested.

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In a statement, the public prosecutor’s office for the canton of Aargau said the man “probably inflicted wounds on himself and, according to initial findings, displays abnormal psychological behaviour.”

Prosecutors added that there is “no evidence of a terrorist motive” and that an investigation “for multiple attempted murders” was opened.

Armed with “sharpened or pointed” metal weapons, the attacker first lashed out at a passer-by at the railway station in the town of 12,000 people, about 60 kilometres (38 miles) west of Zurich, police said.

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

After two hours of negotiations with a specialized team, the man was arrested in the house, police said.

The suspect had injured himself and was taken to hospital where he is in stable condition, said Bernhard Graser, a police spokesman.

Read more: Man wielding a knife injures several in Swiss town of Zofingen