Five injured in Swiss chainsaw attack

A MAN armed with a chainsaw injured at least five people in Switzerland yesterday and is on the run after a rampage police said was “not a terrorist act”.

Officers have identified the assailant as a 52-year-old man with a criminal history and no fixed address who reportedly has spent significant time living in a forest.

The attack began shortly after the man entered an office building in the northern town of Schaffhausen at 10.30am, police said.

Schaffhausen prosecutor Peter Sticher said an insurance company with offices in the building was the apparent target, indicating that the attacker had a grievance against it.

Authorities were alerted about 10 minutes after the rampage began and rushed officers, ambulances and helicopters to the scene.

The injured included one insurance company employee who suffered serious wounds, Schaffhausen police said.

All the victims had been taken to hospital.

The town’s historic old quarter had been sealed off by a large deployment of officers who evacuated all businesses and pedestrians.

The barricades were later removed and regular traffic has returned to the area.

Police have distributed photos of the presumed attacker that show him looking dishevelled.

He is pictured standing alone in what appears to be a forested area.

Schaffhausen security chief Ravi Landoldt said: “This is a dangerous and aggressive man.

“This was not his first contact with police.”

He was detained in 2014 and again last year for weapons violations, police said.

Despite relatively low crime rates, Switzerland has one of the highest rates of firearm ownership in the world and police said it was likely that the man was carrying weapons while on the run.

Police underscored that the attack was “not a terrorist act”.

Schaffhausen, just north of Zurich near the German border, has a population of 36 000.