Swiss chainsaw attack injures five people

A man armed with a chainsaw injured at least five people in Switzerland yesterday and was on the run after a rampage that police said was not "a terrorist act".

The assailant entered an office building in the northern town of Schaffhausen shortly after 10:30 am, police said in a statement cited by multiple local media outlets.

Minutes later, authorities were alerted that an attack was under way, and rushed officers, ambulances and helicopters to the scene.

The town's historic old quarter has been sealed off by a large deployment of officers who have set up barricades and evacuated all businesses and pedestrians from the area.