Finland attack: Knife rampage leaves 2 dead, 6 injured
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A stabbing in the Finnish city of Turku on Friday left two people dead and injuring six others.
An 18-year-old Moroccan teen went on a stabbing rampage, who was shot in the leg by police. He is being treated in intensive care. Police have since arrested five people in a Turku apartment overnight.
The victims of the attack, all adults, were rushed to hospital yesterday, with three remaining in intensive care.
The attack unfolded in Turku, about 100 miles west of Helsinki, jolting a continent still learning the full extent of a terrorist strike targeting Spain, where police were trying to piece together details of two deadly vehicular assaults and an explosion at a house that police said had been used by the attackers.
The Islamic State claimed links to the attacks in Spain, the nation’s worst in more than a decade.
Police in Finland initially said they did not believe the stabbing was related to terrorism. However, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation took control of the case and was investigating with the assistance of Finnish intelligence services.
“The act had been investigated as murder, but during the night we received additional information which indicates that the criminal offences are now terrorist killings,” police in southwest Finland said in a statement Saturday.
Finnish Interior Minister Paula Risikko said Friday the suspect’s identity was unclear but described him as “foreign-looking.” She said authorities were contacting immigration officials to learn more. Authorities on Saturday announced his nationality but not further details of his identity.
The two people who died of stabbing wounds were Finnish, police said. Among the injured were two Swedes and one Italian.
Finland’s Prime Minister, Juha Sipila, offered condolences to relatives of the victims and called the day’s events “tragic.” The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, also weighed in to condemn the attack, saying its gravity was heightened by the attacks in Spain hours earlier.
Security was tightened across the country, including at airports and train stations.
