On 28th May (Thursday), a 31-year-old man, Nesip Dedeler attacked three individuals with a knife at a train station in Switzerland while shouting “Allahu Akbar” before being taken into custody. He holds Turkish and Swiss citizenship. The incident dubbed as “terrorist act” unfolded at Winterthur train station, around 13 miles northeast of Zurich amid the morning rush hour resulting in serious panic and dread among the people.
🇨🇭 A 31-year-old man stabbed multiple people near Winterthur train station in Switzerland this morning.
— Europa.com (@europa) May 28, 2026
Three Swiss men, aged 28, 43 and 52, were injured and taken to hospital after the attack, which took place shortly after 8:30am. The suspect was arrested at the scene.… pic.twitter.com/IgSAoCGOje
Mario Fehr, in charge of security in the Swiss canton of Zurich declared, “I am exceptionally calling this a terrorist attack.” Marius Weyermann, the commander of the Zurich cantonal police informed that “it was clear from the scene that the motive of the attack has to be looked at in the context of radicalisation and extremism.” According to him, the initial emergency contact with police was made at 8:28 am local time and the arrest was made by 8:33 am. The three victims are Swiss nationals. They are aged 28, 43 and 52.
The eldest man underwent emergency surgery after suffering severe injuries from stab wounds to his thigh. The other two had been stabbed in the neck and leg, respectively and had been discharged from the hospital. Weyermann highlighted that the perpetrator was raised in Winterthur.
Notably, Dedeler was reported to the Swiss authorities after violating a ban in relation to disseminating propaganda associated with the terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS) in 2015. According to other reports, he became a naturalised citizen of Switzerland in 2009 but was in Turkey for the majority of the previous two years. He is also affiliated with an extremist mosque whose imam was accused of advocating for the killing of non-practicing Muslims in 2017.
The attacker was recently transferred to a mental health facility after showing up at a Winterthur police station on 25th May (Monday). He was in a “delusional state” and was rambling incoherently. However, the institution allowed him to leave after a doctor ruled that he was not a threat to himself or others. “Why that decision was made is beyond our knowledge, but the assessment was obviously wrong,” Fehr remarked.
The stabbings occur only weeks before an action plan to cap Switzerland’s population at 10 million is scheduled to be put to a vote this month. The suggestion was made in reaction to “uncontrolled immigration.”
