Swiss Shooting: Three Killed At Factory

Three people have been killed and seven others injured in a shooting at a factory in Switzerland, according to prosecutors.

A gunman struck at the wood processing plant in the town of Menznau on Wednesday morning, with police alerted at 9am.

A witness cited by local newspaper Neue Luzerner Zeitung said the gunman had opened fire in the company canteen.

Prosecutors' spokesman Simon Kopp told Swiss newspaper Blick: "There were three dead and seven injured, some of them seriously injured."

The assailant was among the dead, he added. Police confirmed the gunman was a 42-year-old employee at the factory.

Emergency services are at the factory, called Kronospan, and the area has been largely cordoned off.

Kronospan Chief Executive Mauro Capozzo said the suspected shooter had been "with us for more than 10 years - a quiet man, no other incidents involving him are known".

The shooting comes weeks after a gunman killed three women and wounded two men in the Swiss village of Daillon, stirring a debate about Switzerland's gun laws.

Male citizens in Switzerland are allowed to retain guns after their mandatory military service.

There is no national gun register in the country, but some estimates indicate that at least one in every three of Switzerland's eight million inhabitants keeps a gun, many stored at home.

Citizens outside the military can apply for a permit to buy up to three weapons from the age of 18.