Man stabs 2 to death, injures 6 in Turku

Two people were killed and at least six others were injured when a miscreant equipped with knife attacked on people at the Turku city centre on Friday afternoon.

The incident took place at about 4.00 pm when the attacker suddenly started to stab a group of people, police, hospital and eye accounts said.

The director of the Hospital District of Southwest Finland said one person was killed on the spot while another died at the hospital.

The director said eight patients were admitted to the hospital and one of them died immediately after arrival, reported the Finnish language daily Turun Sanomat.

The critically injured are now undergoing treatment and physicians said the situation seems to have stabilized.

After the incident the market square was cordoned off and armed police were seen patrolling the area.

Hansa shopping centre was evacuated and the main library as well as nearby buildings was closed. The Impivaara swimming pool was also closed. Another shopping centre, Skanssi, was evacuated as a security precaution.

According to eyewitnesses, the attacks happened in different parts of the market square and its surrounding areas.

The security police (supo) decided to take part in the investigation, said supo in a Tweeter feed.

The police at a press conference in the evening said eight people sustained knife injuries and two of them were killed.

The law enforcing agency shot at the leg and captured the suspected attacker immediately after the incident. The suspect was also taken to the hospital.

The police, however, did not consider the incident a terror attack at the initial stage.

Interior Minister Paula Risikko spoke at the press conference where she said that the authorities were contacting immigration services and others related sources to collect detail information about the attacker.

The police did not divulge the identity of the attacker, although he looks like a foreigner, the national broadcaster Yle reported.

Investigators are trying to ascertain whether the attacker acted alone or whether he had any accomplices, and are analysing surveillance camera footage of the incident, said the Yle report.