The knifeman who killed two people and injured eight in a terrifying rampage in Finland is an 18-year-old Moroccan – with the incident being considered a terror attack, police have said.
Yesterday’s stabbings on Market Square in the city of Turku came just hours after 13 were slaughtered in the horror van massacre in Barcelona.
Three minutes after the attack began, police shot a man in the leg before arresting him.
Eight people were taken to hospital following the stabbings, including a woman who was pushing a pram. Some of the victims are in a critical condition.
The victims – including two Finns, one Italian and two Swedes – are thought to have been ‘randomly selection bystanders’.
At least one person was pictured lying bleeding and motionless on the pavement among other victims in the southwestern city of Turku.
The attack began at 4.02pm, officials said, with the suspect arrested at 4.05pm.
Stab victim Hassan Zubier, 45, was slashed repeatedly as he tried to help an injured woman who died in his arms during yesterday’s bloody rampage in Turku, Finland.
‘We were strolling around the square when we suddenly heard someone screaming. I turned around.
‘I saw a guy stabbing a woman with a knife while she lies on the ground,’ Mr Zubier told Swedish daily Expressen from the Turku hospital.
‘I rushed to help her and tried to stop the blood flow. Others gave her heart and lung assistance.’
An armed police officer stands guard at the Turku Market Square where eight people were stabbed during a bloody attack which began at 16:02. The suspect was shot in the leg by police and arrested by 16:05 and taken to hospital, police announced at a press conference tonight
The shrouded body of a stabbing victim on the Market Square in Turku, Finland 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 the leg and detained him, police said
Scene of the carnage: A general view of Turku Market Square, where people were stabbed
The attacker then turned to slash at Zubier’s girlfriend. He said that he rushed between her and the armed man and was stabbed twice.
Mr Zubier, a Swedish national, said that the attacker then moved away and he returned to the injured woman who he believed was dying on the ground.
‘I try to stop the violent bleeding from her throat. Then he stabs me with the knife again. The woman is so badly injured and she dies in my arms,’ he said.
Mr Zubier said that he has been stabbed in his neck, in his chest, at the side of the chest and on the back of his shoulders.
‘My left hand is seriously injured. A nerve is injured, it is not certain that they can save the arm. I’m going to the MRI now, the doctors will then decide what to do.’
Mr Zubier and his girlfriend were on holiday in Turku. They were planning to have taken a cruise ship back to Stockholm on Friday night.
Rescue personnel cordon the place where people were stabbed at Turku Market Square
Ambulance cars gather at the site of a multiple stabbing on the Market Square in Turku
Emergency services responding to the attack in Turku. A wounded victim can be seen lying on the floor in the Market Square
A man sits on the pavement with a bloody shirt in front of an ambulance while, next to him, another victim lies with wounds
President of Finland Sauli Niinisto speaks to journalists as he arrives for a prayer service at the Turku Cathedral for the victims of the stabbing attack which began today at 16:02
Eight people have been sent to hospital and some are in a critical condition. A woman pushing a pram was said to be among the victims
Police officers stand next to a person lying on the pavement in the Finnish city of Turku where several people were stabbed. At least two people have been killed
Pictured: People can be seen fleeing the scene in Turku, Finland. The Turun Sanomat newspaper said that at least one person was killed in the attack
Eyewitness reported hearing one or more gunshots and seeing at least one person lying dead on the ground. Pictured: An image from the scene showing a body covered on the pavement
Pictured: The scene in Turku. Several people have been injured and one killed after a man went on a rampage with a knife. Police said they are searching for more potential suspects
Pictured left: A wounded person sits on the pavement in Turku surrounded by police after the series of stabbings. Right: Blood can be seen on the ground after the attack as victims sit next to an ambulance
The bloody attack occurred in Turku, Finland
Blood on the floor outside a shop in Turku after a knifeman went on a rampage in the Finnish city. Security has been upped across the country in response to the attack
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
Pictured: The scene in Turku as police and ambulances rush to the market square after a series of stabbings
Pictured left: A police van in Turku. Right: A victim lies injured on the ground
Finnish police said they were reinforcing security nationwide, with additional patrols and boosted surveillance following the stabbings.
Interior Minister Paula Risikko told Helsingin Sanomat she did not yet know whether the attack was related to terrorism.
The arrested suspect is being treated in hospital.
Speaking to US broadcaster CNN, Kent Svensson, 44, said: ‘This guy had this huge knife in his hand – and several times he was stabbing this person. People were just running everywhere.
‘This guy was just constantly stabbing. He was just turning around, flinging his knife everywhere. There were people lying everywhere.
‘People were screaming and running.
‘We were just talking about what happened in Barcelona.
‘We thought we were safe in Finland. And then this happens.
‘The woman was on the ground. She was dead. It’s just awful.
‘I can just see this huge knife in his hand and he’s just stabbing.’
Rescue services attend the scene after a multiple people were stabbed in Finland’s western city of Turku before police shot him in a leg and detained him, police said
Police and emergency services at the scene in Turku
A still from a video reportedly taken at the scene which shows people fleeing and screaming in the street
Pictured: Police on patrol in the streets of Helsinki in response to the attack in Turku
Armed police secure the area after several people were stabbed on the Market Square
In a video purporting to show the aftermath of the attack, people can be seen fleeing in the street.
It was also reported that a man was heard screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the attack, but others have stressed this was merely misheard Finnish.
Turun Sanomat said police were inspecting departing trains and buses.
‘The government is following the situation in Turku closely and a police operation is under way,’ tweeted Prime Minister Juha Sippila ahead of a cabinet meeting.
‘Police are looking for other possible perpetrators of the crime in Turku,’ security forces wrote on Twitter.
‘They ask the population to leave and avoid central Turku.’
In 2012, Finland’s then-prime minister Jyrki Katainen escaped a knife attack in Turku while campaigning for municipal elections.
The man who approached him carrying a knife was found to be psychologically disturbed and no charges were brought against him.
According to local media site Uutiset, police tweeted: ‘Several people stabbed in central Turku. People are requested to avoid the city centre.’
Moments later a suspect was shot in the leg and arrested.
Witness Laura Laine said she was alerted by hearing a young woman screaming loudly at the corner of the market square.
Pictured: A police car parked outside Helsinki’s Central Railway Station after security was upped in the capital
Eight people are reported to be injured, including one man and five women. One of the women was pushing a pram when she was attacked by a man with a large knife. Pictured: A policeman in central Helsinki as security is upped in the wake of the attack
‘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.
According to Hufvudstadsbladet, witnesses have reported seeing people walking around with baseball bats in the area following the attack.
Ilta-Sanomat, meanwhile, is reporting that people in the street tried to prevent the attack as it was going on.
One is reported to have used a baseball bat to strike the attacker.
‘Police have told us not to go to the city center so we are in this coffee shop a few blocks away from the city center,’ said Vanessa Deggins, an American who is studying business in one of Turku’s three universities.
She didn’t witness the actual attack, but heard sirens going past.
She added: ‘This is a safe country by American standards. I have gone home alone at 2-3 a.m. … I feel safe. This is a safe country.’
The attack comes just a day after at least 14 people were killed and over a hundred hurt in terror attacks in Catalonia.