Two dead, 6 injured in Finland stabbing spree

Helsinki, August 18 

Two persons were killed and six were injured in a stabbing spree in the Finnish city of Turku, the police said, after officers shot one suspect and warned several others could still be at large.

“There are eight victims in the stabbing. Two dead and six injured,” the Turku police tweeted today after the assault in a market square.

Police shot one suspect in the legs and arrested him. Security forces wrote on Twitter that police were “looking for other possible perpetrators”. “They ask the population to leave and avoid central Turku,” the tweet added. The motive of the suspect or suspects was not immediately known.

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.

Witness Laura Laine said she was alerted by hearing a young woman screaming loudly at the corner of the market square. “We saw a man at the square, he had knife in his hand, and he was swinging it in the air. We understood he had stabbed someone,” she  said.

Prime Minister Juha Sipila said: “The government is closely following the events in Turku and the ongoing police operation.” — Agencies