The 18-year-old Moroccan asylum seeker suspected of carrying out the terror attack in Turku, western Finland on Friday has been named by police.
Abderrahman Mechkah was shot in the leg and arrested after allegedly stabbing two people to death and injuring eight – including one Briton – in Turku’s city centre last week.
A picture of the teenager appeared in Scandinavian media this weekend, identifying him as the man behind Finland’s first ever terrorist attack in modern history.
Suspect: Abderrahman Mechkah, an 18-year-old asylum seeker from Morocco has been named as the main suspect in the terror attack in Turku, west Finland on Friday
The frenzied knife rampage in the city, located some 100 miles west of the capital Helsinki, reportedly specifically targeted women.
Six of the injured and both casualties are women, with witnesses describing the suspect even attacking a woman pushing a pram with a young child.
Mechkah had lived in Turku’s immigration centre after arriving in Finland last year, but had reportedly recently had his asylum application denied.
‘He seemed isolated and sort of depressed. It was as if someone had taken something from him, ‘ a person who knew Mechkah told local newspaper Turun Sanomat
‘He seemed very alone. He often walks alone.’
In memoriam: A man photographs the tributes left for the victims in Turku Market Square
Stab victim: Hassan Zubier, 45, pictured, breaks down in tears as he visits the scene in Turku
Hero: Mr Zubier, a British-born paramedica, was slashed repeatedly as he tried to help an injured woman in the aftermath of the knife rampage in Finland
Hate crime: Mechkah, who arrived in Finland in 2016, reportedly specifically targeted women in the frenzied knife rampage in the city
A man sits on the pavement with a bloody shirt in front of an ambulance while, next to him, another victim lies with wounds
Four other Moroccan men detained over possible links to the Turku attack have cooperated with police but their role has yet to be fully established,
Finnish police say they have attempted to question the suspect on Sunday, but that they are waiting for a translator.
Yesterday, police searched several premises in Turku’s Runosmaki district and organised a reconstruction of the knife rampage.
‘The investigation is proceeding and the picture is getting more accurate,’ said Detective Chief Inspector Krista Granroth, who is in charge of the investigation.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, though police are investigating possible links to Thursday’s deadly van attack by suspected Islamic militants in the Spanish city of Barcelona in which 13 people were killed.
Pictured left: A police van in Turku. Right: A victim lies injured on the ground
The bloody attack occurred in Turku, Finland, on Friday afternoon
Police and emergency services rushed to Turku in response to the attack. ‘International terrorism’ has not been ruled out as a motive, the police chief for the area said
Friday’s attack is the first ever terrorist attack in modern history in Finland
Arya Rashidi, a fruit merchant of Kurdish origin, witnessed Friday’s attack and tried to intervene.
‘I saw the man stabbing several times a woman who was pushing strollers. I shouted to people to give me something to go fight him with. Then I saw a man trying to stop the attacker but he got struck with a knife too,’ he told Reuters.
‘Someone gave me a baseball bat and I ran after the man along with some other people. We tried to shout and warn people, as he was running ahead of us.’
‘Then, police came and shot him in the leg. I was furious and I hit him with the bat, and then stepped back,’ he said.
Three people remained in hospital on Sunday in a stable condition following the attack, medical officials said.
One of the injured is British-born Hassan Zubier, a paramedic now living in Sweden who was on holiday in Turku at the time of the attack, and stepped in between other victims and the attacker
Asked for his thoughts on Sunday – two days after the attack – Mr Zubier told Finnish news outlet Iltalehti: ‘Sadness that I couldn’t save her life, sadness about the dark in the world right now, that is my thoughts, for all of those who were injured, the other girl that died.’
Sat in a wheelchair and with his left arm in a sling, he added: ‘It’s a sad, sad day, not just for Finland, but for the world, for humanity.’