Trump commits U.S. to Afghanistan war
HELSINKI - A teenage Moroccan asylum seeker admitted yesterday killing two people and wounding eight in a knife attack in the Finnish city of Turku, his lawyer said.
In a closed-door court hearing, 18-year-old Abderrahman Mechkah confessed to carrying out Friday's attack but did not admit to having terrorist motive, lawyer Kaarle Gummerus said.
"(My client) admits manslaughter and injuries... But what the investigator has brought up this far may not be enough to classify this as a terrorist crime," Gummerus told Reuters.
Mechkah appeared in court via video link from hospital, where he is being treated after being shot in the leg by police following the stabbings.
The court ordered Mechkah, who has yet to be charged with any offence, to be detained in prison pending trial.
Three other Moroccan men detained over possible links to the attack are due in court later. A fifth Moroccan who had also been under arrest was released, the court said.
The investigation is the first into suspected terrorismrelated crimes in Finland's history.– REUTERS. WASHINGTON/KABUL - President Donald Trump committed U.S. troops to an open-ended war in Afghanistan, a decision the Afghan government welcomed yesterday but which Taliban insurgents warned would make the country a "graveyard for the American empire." Trump offered few specifics in a speech on Monday but promised a stepped-up military campaign against the Taliban who have gained ground against U.S.backed Afghan government forces. He also singled out Pakistan for harbouring militants in safe havens on its soil.
Trump, who had in the past advocated a U.S. withdrawal, admitted he was going against his instincts in approving the new campaign plan sought by his military advisers but said he was convinced that leaving posed more risk. "The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable," he said. "A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al Qaeda, would instantly fill."– REUTERS.