The blood on the platform at Zurich’s main train station had barely dried before the suits in Whitehall started revising their risk assessments. Three people were stabbed in what police are calling a targeted attack. But the security establishment is already asking the bigger question: what does this say about the state of European security?
Sources with knowledge of the UK’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre tell me the threat level for Europe is being reviewed. ‘This is not an isolated incident,’ one official said. ‘We are seeing a pattern of lone actors with minimal planning but devastating effect.
’ The attacker, a 23-year-old asylum seeker from Eritrea, was arrested at the scene. Swiss authorities say he acted alone. But the trail of cash and connections doesn’t end there.
Documents obtained by this journalist show he had been flagged by German intelligence six months ago for association with a radical preacher in Berlin. The preacher, known for his online sermons, has been linked to at least three other attacks across Europe. The UK’s security services are now mapping his network.
The incident comes amid a backdrop of rising knife crime and political instability. The Home Office has issued a travel advisory for Switzerland, warning of ‘enhanced risk of random violence’. And the Treasury is reportedly considering a review of counter-terrorism funding.
‘Every pound spent on surveillance is a pound that could save a life,’ a former MI5 officer told me. ‘But we are running out of pounds.’ The victims, a 34-year-old businessman, a 19-year-old student, and a 61-year-old retiree, are in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Their names have not been released. But their blood is on the hands of a system that failed to connect the dots. The European threat level remains at ‘substantial’, meaning an attack is likely.
But insiders say that could change within days. The question is not if, but where next.
