Turku attacker identified as Moroccan, 4 more held

Police said on Saturday the suspect who mounted the multiple stabbings in Turku on Friday was a Moroccan citizen. He is an 18-year-old boy.

He had been in the process of applying for asylum in Finland when committing the crime, the police said at a press conference in Turku, reported news agency Xinhua.

Crista Granroth, who is in charge of the investigation, told Xinhua that the police were regarding the case as an independent one in Turku. She said there was no sign that the group was related to the perpetrators who had killed 14 people in Spain's double terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambril.

The law enforcing agency also said that four more Moroccan citizens were arrested in connection with the incident.

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.

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

Although police initially considered the case as murder, now the law enforcing agencies are considering the incident as terrorist act.

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.