Police kill axe-wielding hostage taker on train in Switzerland

A special Swiss police unit stormed the train around 10.15pm on February 8, allowing the release of all the hostages. The attacker, believed to be a 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, was killed during the police intervention near Yverdon in canton Vaud in western Switzerland. ' Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

Swiss police said a 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker armed with an axe and a knife held 15 hostages on a train between Baulmes and Yverdon-les-Bains in western Switzerland for almost four hours, until police stormed the train and killed the man late on Thursday evening.

The police stormed the train around 10.15pm, allowing the release of all the hostages. The attacker was killed during the police intervention. Authorities said that there is no indication of a terrorist motive.

The hostage-taking began around 6.35pm, said Vaud police. The assailant, armed with an axe and a knife, forced the train driver to leave his post to join the 14 passengers in the train, which had stopped with its doors closed at the Essert-sous-Champvent station, between Baulmes and Yverdon-les-Bains.

The police were alerted directly by the passengers on the train. They sealed off the area to allow negotiation specialists to establish contact with the hostage taker, in particular via messaging on the hostages’ mobile phones. Some of them were tied up, according to police.

The intervention forces finally attacked around 10.15pm, at which point “the man was separated from his hostages”, said Jean-Christophe Sauterel, spokesperson for the Vaud cantonal police. Explosives were used to divert the attacker’s attention.

“As the hostage-taker rushed with his axe in the direction of the intervention group, a police officer used his weapon to protect the hostages, fatally hitting the perpetrator,” said Sauterel. The man died on the spot, despite the presence of a doctor among the police intervention team. The police said they acted according to the principle of self-defence.

Everyone on the train was released safely. They were looked after on site by a health team before being transported by bus to a police centre in Yverdon.

The hostages and their families were supported by emergency support teams and a psychological unit. They were interviewed for the investigation at the end of the evening.

According to initial information, the 32-year-old man is an Iranian asylum seeker assigned to canton Neuchâtel who speaks Farsi and English. A Farsi-speaking interpreter took part in the negotiations.

The Vaud Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened a criminal investigation. “The man’s motivations have not been established, nor his psychological state,” said Attorney General Eric Kaltenrieder. It is also unclear where the hostage taker got on the train.

This intervention required over 60 police officers and around 30 rescue workers.

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