Local police also announced that one of the victims of the attack, a 34-year old woman, also died of wounds after being hospitalized.
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The suspect is suffering from serious burns himself, and police have not yet been able to question him, Kruesi said, adding that the man had no criminal record and was not previously known to police.
Police said: “According to current information a 27-year-old Swiss man poured out a flammable liquid”.
Five people were stabbed or burned during the attack by a 27-year-old Swiss man on the train nearing the Salez station on a trip between Buchs and Sennwald in St Gallen.
According to police, a passenger who was standing on the rail platform dragged the alleged attacker from the train.
Police in the canton of St. Gallen said the wounded, including a child, were taken to a local hospital. Three victims and the suspect remained in hospital on Sunday morning.
Police said that they found no indication of terrorism after searching the man’s home in a region neighbouring the site of the attack at Salez, near the Liechtenstein border. She had been drenched with a large amount the flammable liquid, leading to speculations that the 34-year-old might have been the main target of the attack.
There are reports that flammable liquid was used to start a fire in the horrifying assault. “His intervention probably prevented worse”, police spokesman Hanspeter Kruesi told the Blick daily.
St. Gallen police said the motive was not clear.
Swiss police and special forces have sealed off the train and the interior minister is believed to be holding a special meeting on how to deal with incident.
Police were unable to interrogate the attacker, identified only as a Swiss citizen from a neighboring canton.
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Last year, a man carried out an attack on a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris with guns and knives but was subdued by two American men. Police said the attack had been caught on video, allowing them to determine that the man had acted alone.
