Iranian armed with ax and knife takes hostages on train, shot dead

An Iranian asylum seeker was shot dead by police in Switzerland after taking 15 people hostage on a train, authorities reported Friday.

Armed with an ax and knife, the man, 32, held the hostages on a train in the town of Essert-sous-Champvent in the Swiss canton of Vaud near the French border for almost four hours on Thursday night.

“The hostages were all released unharmed,” police in the Vaud canton said in a statement on Friday that only identified the man as an Iranian asylum seeker. “The hostage taker was fatally...