‘Jihadist Background’: Two Injured in Suspected Switzerland Terror Attack Stabbing

A police auto in the area where a stabbing occurred in the department store, in Lugano, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020.

Swiss police said a stabbing in a shopping area on Tuesday afternoon in the Italian-speaking city of Lugano is being investigated as a potential terrorist attack, and that the prime suspect arrested at the scene had a background of jihadist extremism.

And two Swiss nationals aged 18 and 24 were arrested near Zurich over alleged links to the perpetrator of a deadly attack in neighbouring Austria's capital Vienna earlier this month. The suspect was already known to police, and was the subject of a jihadist radicalisation investigation in 2017.

An initial medical evaluation showed that one of the victims had suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries, while the other had minor injuries, police said.

Swiss police said today a woman at the centre of a terrorist investigation following a double knife attack had formed an online relationship with a jihadi in Syria and had attempted to travel there. Police said the injuries weren't life-threatening.

"The woman was suffering from mental health problems at this time".

"Since 2017, the woman has not come to fedpol's attention in any investigations related to terrorist activities", it added. She was questioned for the first time after the attack.

She attempted to choke one and stabbed another in the neck with a knife before being stopped by shoppers, police say.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz condemned Tuesday's attack in Lugano, and vowed to work with Switzerland in a "joint response to Islamist terrorism in Europe". "We stand with Switzerland in these hard hours", he added.