Three children have been injured after being attacked by a man at a daycare centre in Switzerland, according to police.
Armed police and emergency services swooped on the scene after being alerted to the attack, which took place in northern Zurich at around midday local time.
‘I heard children screaming and then a lot of police officers arrived,’ a woman at the scene told reporters.
Local residents in the area of Berninastrasse described seeing terrified parents running to find their children as news of the horrific events emerged.
Police said they have now arrested the man suspected of carrying out the ‘violent crime’, but gave no further details of the nature of the attack.
Police launched a major operation after being alerted to the attack, which took place in Berninastrasse, Zurich, at around midday local time
The area was cordoned off and the doors to the daycare centre were covered up
Armed police and emergency services swooped on the scene after being alerted to the attack, which took place in northern Zurich at around midday local time
‘There are at least six to seven police cars on site. The ambulance is also on the square with several vehicles,’ an eyewitness told local media of the major operation.
‘Shortly after twelve o’clock, the Zurich City Police were alerted to a violent crime on Berninastrasse. Three children were injured,’ said the Zurich City Police in a press release.
‘A suspect was arrested in connection with this. There is no longer any danger to the public.’
The statement added that the man had ‘attacked several children’.
Neither the circumstances, the identity of the alleged attacker nor the severity of the children’s injuries were immediately known.
Police said more information would be issued later.
Local outlet Blick reports that a father whose son goes to the daycare centre ducked underneath the police barrier and ran towards the door, with his friend telling a reporter that the man ‘is panicking and wants to know what’s going on’.
The father said after being sent back behind the police barrier: ‘I don’t know if my son is OK! The police sent me away again. I don’t know where my son is, they just told me that he is unharmed, but I can’t go to him.’
