Finland Stabbing Was Terror Attack, Police ID Suspect as Moroccan

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Police are now investigating a stabbing spree in Finland that left two people dead as a terrorist attack, police said Saturday, identifying the suspect as an 18-year-old Moroccan citizen.

"The incidents were initially investigated as murders, but in light of further information received during the night, the offences include now murders with terrorist intent and their attempts," police said in a statement.

The suspect's "identity is known to the police. He is an 18-year-old Moroccan citizen," it said, providing no other details about him.

Police shot and wounded the knife-wielding suspect on Friday, arresting him minutes after an afternoon stabbing rampage at a busy market square in Turku in southwestern Finland.

Police on Saturday raised the number of injured in the attack from six to eight, adding that the injured included an Italian national and two Swedes. The other victims were all Finns.

Police also arrested five people in a Turku apartment overnight.

"There was a raid and we have now six suspects in custody, the main suspect and five others," detective superintendent Markus Laine of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) told AFP.

"We are investigating the role of these five other people but we are not sure yet if they had anything to do with (the attack)... We will interrogate them, after that we can tell you more. But they had been in contact with the main suspect," Laine said.

In June, Finland's intelligence and security agency Supo raised the country's terror threat level by a notch, from "low" to "elevated", the second notch on a four-tier scale.

It said at the time it saw an increased risk of an attack committed by the the so-called Islamic State (IS) group.

- Flags at half-mast -Police have said they are collaborating with the Finnish Immigration Service and international authorities in their investigation. 

"Several national authorities are participating in the investigation. We are also working together with our foreign colleagues to investigate the case," it said in a tweet.

The suspect is being treated in hospital in intensive care for a gunshot wound to the thigh.

The motive for the attack was not yet known.

"We haven't yet interrogated the main suspect because of his medical condition," Laine said.

Police also said they had impounded a white Fiat Ducato van suspected of being tied to Friday's stabbing, but provided no other information about how it was linked.

On Saturday, the interior ministry ordered flags to fly  at half-mast across Finland in honour of the victims.

The Nordic country also raised its emergency readiness nationwide after the stabbing, increasing security at airports and train stations and putting more officers on the streets.

Media reports in Finland said police believed the suspect had picked his victims at random, but Laine could not confirm that.

Police have said it was likely the suspect acted alone, but said Friday they were looking for "other possible perpetrators."

In Turku, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto attended a vigil held in the Turku Cathedral on Friday evening in honour of the victims.

Comments 4
Thumb Elemental 19 August 2017, 09:39

You'd figure Europe would have learned from Lebanon's mistakes. This "refugee" tactic was used before and look how awful things turned out in Lebanon.

Thumb i.report 19 August 2017, 15:49

i've been attacked and mugged by Moroccans at least a dozen times since my teens, once I got stabbed in the shoulder. they are not refugees; they're born here for the 2nd and 3rd generation. they simply never integrated...they still marry their cousins from Morocco and bring them here. They put henna on their hands and stink. Some elder women have a dot tattooed on their forheards.... freaky

Their grand parents were invited here to work in our mines and the gov back then encouraged them to settle in my new country. Moroccans are filth, their king is like Bachar an alaouite.... it speaks a thousand words.

Thumb Elemental 19 August 2017, 19:40

A well known tactic which many choose to ignore, and of course with the help of the far-left, get enabled, which in reality is part of their plan.

Thumb i.report 19 August 2017, 21:42

Oui, they don't want to face reality! They should retroactively take away their European passports and strike a deal with morocco so they welcome them back at home. They wouldn't get lost because they all speak Moroccan. These people that are born in Europe speak with a heavy accent as if they were foreigners. I who was born in Beirut speak the local language without accent....

It has to change and quickly if we wish to avert more terrorist attacks.