DARING RESCUE

Axe-Swinging Hostage Taker Shot Down by Swiss Police on Train

He was killed after taking 15 people hostage.

A man brandishing an axe and knife was fatally shot by police officers after taking 15 people hostage on a train in Switzerland. The assailant, a 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, boarded a local rail at Yverdon in the western region of the alpine country and held hostages onboard at nearby Essert-sous-Champvent for hours on Thursday night. Police, alerted by passengers, arrived at the scene with a force of more than 60 officers and attempted to talk down the man, who spoke mostly Farsi and a bit of English. The officers eventually decided to storm the train at an opportune moment and met the hostage-taker with gunfire while defending the passengers, authorities said. The man died of his gunshot wounds at the scene. His motive is unclear but local police were quick to dispel suspicion of terrorist motives. “No element points us toward a terrorist act. Neither terrorist nor jihadist,” regional police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel told local outlets, although the investigation is ongoing. Few biographical details are known about the attacker beyond his immigration status.