Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Swiss police officers stand at the crime scene in Schaffhausen where an axe-wielding man attacked people at an insurance firm Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

A two-day hunt for a 50-year-old man who stormed into an office wielding a chainsaw has ended with his arrest.

Swiss police detained Franz Wrousis in Thalwil, about 40 miles (64km) from Schaffhausen where the incident in which two people were injured, took place.

An international arrest warrant had been issued for the man who has two previous convictions for weapons offences and lived in the woods, Reuters reported.

It is not known why he assaulted the workers at the office of insurance firm CSS, of which he was a client.

Schaffhausen and other parts of the region were closed off during the search, which included German police, a helicopter and dogs.

Swiss police had earlier admitted they did not know where Wrousis had gone, and he could have crossed into Germany.

A man who identified himself as Samuel told Reuters he had seen the suspect whom he described as "very disconnected".

"He looked like a schizophrenic, but we didn't think that it would be that bad. We didn't see him as a threat or anything," he said.