Swiss police launch manhunt for chainsaw attacker

Berlin: An unkempt man armed with a chainsaw wounded five people at an insurance office in the northern Swiss city of Schaffhausen and then fled, police said.

Five people were taken to the hospital, two of them with serious injuries. They were employees of a health insurance company.

Police warned that the suspect was dangerous, but added: “This case is not a terrorist act.”

They said it was not clear whether he still had the chainsaw with him when he fled the scene after the attack yesterday morning.

A rescue helicopter was flown in to help the victims and the old town in Schaffhausen was sealed off.

By yesterday afternoon, Swiss police had identified the suspect, whom they described as being about 190cm tall with a bald head and an unkempt appearance.

They did not name him but issued old photos of him wearing a green T-shirt and black jeans.

The man was believed to be driving a white Volkswagen minivan yesterday with registration plates from the southeastern Swiss canton (state) of Graubuenden.

A health insurance company with a ground-floor office in the Schaffhausen building, where the attack took place, said two of its staff had to be taken to a hospital.

“We can confirm that a man with a chainsaw came into the agency and seriously wounded two of our employees,” said Christina Wettstein, a spokesman for insurer CSS.

“They are undergoing operations at the moment and we don’t know how they are.”

Schaffhausen is a city of about 36,000 people north of Zurich, near the border with Germany.