Two dead, eight injured in Finland stabbing spree, suspect arrested

Police shot one suspect in the legs and arrested him

HELSINKI: Two people were killed and eight were injured in a stabbing spree in the Finnish city of Turku on Friday, police said, after officers shot one suspect and warned several others could be at large.

Finnish police are investigating Friday's knife attacks as crimes related to terrorism, it said on Saturday. The suspect was an 18-year Moroccan, police added. The suspected attacker killed two people and wounded eight in the city of Turku on Friday before police shot him in the leg and arrested him.

Security forces wrote on Twitter that police were "looking for other possible perpetrators".

Interior Minister Paula Risikko told Helsingin Sanomat she did not yet know whether the attack was related to terrorism.

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 told Finnish broadcaster YLE.

Turku lies on Finland's southwest coast about 160 km (100 miles) west of the capital Helsinki. Turun Sanomat said police were inspecting departing trains and buses. They also reinforced security in Helsinki airport and streets as well as a train station in Vantaa. Prime Minister Juha Sipila said, "The government is closely following the events in Turku and the ongoing police operation.