Swiss Prosecutors Launch Terror-Related Criminal Case Against Lugano Attacker

ZURICH (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2020) The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland on Wednesday launched a criminal case against a Swiss woman involved in a knife attack on customers in a department store in Lugano on suspicions of attempted murder and violation of the law banning Al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorist groups (both outlawed in Russia), the prosecutor's office told Sputnik.

"The Federal prosecutor's office has opened a criminal case against this person, including on suspicion of attempted murder ... infliction of grave bodily harm ... and violation of Article 2 of the federal law banning Al-Qaeda and Islamic State," the statement said.

The woman was arrested and placed in custody. The prosecutor's office added that it was maintaining close contact with security and law enforcement agencies at cantonal and national levels.

On Tuesday, the 28-year-old suspect tried to strangle a woman and stabbed another one in the neck in Lugano. Cantonal police said in a statement that the attacker was a Swiss national living in the same city. One victim sustained severe but non-life-threatening injuries, while the other received a minor injury. Police and prosecutors did not rule out that there could be a terrorist motive behind the attack.

The suspect was reportedly known to law enforcement agencies, as she was involved in a 2017 investigation related to jihadists.

According to media reports, a few years ago the woman tried to leave for Syria to join a militant but she was stopped at the Turkish-Syrian border. According to the federal police, the woman suffered from a mental disorder and was placed in a mental health hospital on her return to Switzerland.