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Swiss train attacker dies of injuries

A man on Saturday set fire to flammable liquid on a train travelling between Buchs and Sennwald in Switzerland, injuring seven people including the man himself, the Switzerland’s St. Gallen cantonal police reported.

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This morning, a 34-year-old woman who had been in a critical condition since the attack also died from her injuries.

A sixth person who came to the aid of others from the train platform suffered from smoke inhalation.

The assailant, a 27-year-old Swiss national, used flammable liquid to start the fire on a moving train in eastern Switzerland at about 2:20 pm (1220 GMT) on Saturday before stabbing passengers. Three others remain hospitalized with serious wounds.

Police say both the woman and her attacker died on Sunday, the day after the attack in the far east of the country, near the border with Liechtenstein. “To date there is no indication this was a terrorist or politically-motivated act”.

Several others were hurt, including a 6-year-old boy, police said.

The attack occurred as the train neared the station in the town of Salez.

The motive of the attack was not immediately clear, but the incident follows a string of violent, often deadly assaults in Europe in recent months, with many claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group.

Police searched the home of the suspect, who lived in a neighbouring canton.

Police have not yet been able to establish a motive for the attack, but seem to have ruled out any links to extremist organizations.

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Emergency services have surrounded the scene, including firefighters, three rescue helicopters, two emergency physicians, three ambulances and experts from the railway companies. He had been in and out of psychiatric care, and the attack was not believed to have been an act of terrorism.

A Swiss police officer stands near workers cleaning a platform after a 27-year-old Swiss man's attack on a Swiss train at the railway station in the town of Salez Switzerland