Knifeman ‘Targeted Women in Turku Terror Attack’
Police in Finland say a knifeman who killed two people in the south-western city of Turku on Friday appeared to choose women as targets.
They are treating the attack as a terrorist incident.
The suspect, arrested after being shot by police, is an 18-year-old Moroccan. Four other Moroccans have been held.
The two women stabbed to death were both Finnish. Eight people were also injured, among them a Briton, a Swede and an Italian.
The ages of the casualties ranged from 15 to 67, police said, but gave no more details.
PM Juha Sipila told a press conference that Finland had experienced a terror attack for the first time.
Police said in a statement: “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.”
They said the identity of the 18-yearold Moroccan was known, but they have not released it.
At a later press briefing, they said the suspect had arrived in Finland in 2016 and had “been part of the asylum process”.
Crista Granroth, from the National Bureau of Investigation, said: “It seems that the suspect chose women as his targets, because the men who were wounded were injured when they tried to help, or prevent the attacks.”
She said six of the eight wounded people were women.