Swiss woman charged in connection with a ‘extremist knife attack’

Swiss prosecutors announced Wednesday that they have charged a woman with attempted murder on behalf of the Daesh organization in connection with a violent knife assault in November 2020.

The unidentified 29-year-old woman reportedly assaulted two ladies in a retail shop in the southern city of Lugano.

According to the indictment, she has been charged with attempted murder and breaking laws prohibiting her from associating with Al-Qaeda, Daesh, and other terrorist organizations. She was also accused of illegal prostitution.

The attorney general’s office said the indictment related to an ‘extremist knife attack’ and the alleged assailant, a Swiss citizen, “intended to kill her victims and to commit a terrorist act on behalf of Daesh.”

“The suspect acted willfully and with particular ruthlessness. She brutally attacked her randomly-selected victims with a knife, with the aim of killing them and thereby spreading terror throughout the population on behalf of the ‘Daesh’,” it said.

One of the two victims suffered major neck injuries, but the second victim was able to overcome her assailant and hold her until the police came.

The assailant was apprehended and incarcerated.

She was swiftly linked to a 2017 jihadism probe, according to police.

According to authorities, the woman had created a social media contact with an extremist fighter in Syria and attempted to go to the war-torn nation to meet him.

She was detained at the Syrian border by Turkish officials and returned to Switzerland, they claimed, adding that the woman had mental health issues and had been taken to a psychiatric center.

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