Police investigating Finnish stabbing spree as terror crime

The suspect's "identity is known to the police. He is an 18-year-old Moroccan citizen," it said.

By Chennabasaveshwar

Published: Saturday, August 19, 2017, 16:38 [IST]

Police have identified the attacker as an 18-year-old Moroccan citizen who killed two people and injured eight others in an incident of stabbing in the city of Turku in western Finland on Friday.

Rescue services attend the scene after a multiple stabbing incident on the Market Square in Turku, Finland, Friday Aug. 18, 2017, after several people were stabbed. A man is thought to have stabbed several people in Finland's western city of Turku before police shot him in a leg and detained him, police said, adding that authorities were looking for more potential suspects. AP/ PTI

"The act had been investigated as murder, but during the night we received additional information which indicates that the criminal offenses are now terrorist killings," police said in a statement.

The suspect's "identity is known to the police. He is an 18-year-old Moroccan citizen," it said.

Police is said to have shot at the suspect and arrested him after several people were stabbed. One man and five women - one pushing a baby in a pram - were injured in the attack.

Turku police had asked the public to move away from the city center. Turku is in Finland's southwest and lies around 140 kilometers (around 85 miles) west of the capital, Helsinki. It is a Swedish speaking city.

A tweet from South-West Finland police at 16:40 local time (13:40 GMT) read: "Several people stabbed in central Turku. People are requested to avoid the city centre."

The stabbing in Finland comes on the heels of ISIS terrorists attack in Barcelona which left 13 people dead and 100 others injured.

(With agency inputs)

Published On August 19, 2017