Man goes on stabbing spree in Finland, at least 2 dead
HELSINKI/BERLIN: Several people were stabbed in a knife attack in the Finnish city of Turku on Friday but it was not immediately clear if this was a militant action or had some other motive.
“There are eight victims in the stabbing. Two dead and six injured,” Turku police tweeted.
People were warned to stay away from the city as security was reinforced nationwide. South-west Finland police tweeted :“Several people stabbed in central Turku. People are requested to avoid the city centre.”
Interior minister Paula Risikko told Helsingin Sanomat newspaper she did not yet know whether the attack was related to terrorism.
Finnish television channel MTV said security had been heightened at Helsinki’ s international airport but didn’t give details.
Finland is traditionally peaceful but the Finnish security intelligence service raised the terrorism threat level in June, saying it had become aware of more serious terrorism-related plans in Finland.
Prime Minister Juha Sipila said: “The government is closely following the events in T ur ku and the ongoing police operation. The government will meet later today.”
The Finnish government has grown more concerned about attacks, partly after an Uzbek man killed four people in neighbouring S weden in April this year by driving a hijacked truck into crowd in central Stockholm, killing five people.
1 KILLED IN STABBING IN WESTERN GERMANY
One man was killed and another injured in a stabbing in the western German city of W upper ta lon Friday police said, adding that the attack er was still on the loose.
“We can confirm there has been a deadly crime. One man has died and another mani sin hospital ,” a police spokeswoman told AFP.
The police said they were hunting for one or more assailants, but could not immediately provide more information about the circumstances of the attack.