Police investigating two identical attacks on buses

The police on Friday sought court confirmation to keep in detention two foreign men who separately tried to divert buses to the opposite lane earlier this week. Police are trying to ascertain whether the men had been in contact with each other.

The incidents took place on Tuesday, 300 kilometers apart, in Loimaa in southwestern Finland and in Uurainen in central Finland.

Police said that in both cases the attackers were men of foreign background in their thirties.

The police told national radio Yle that so far nothing indicates terrorism and the men were suspected of "transport sabotage" only.

The police have not been able to inspect their mobile phones and computers to verify if they were in contact. Such technical probe needs a court order in Finland.

The police have not published the nationalities of the men.

Commenting on the incidents earlier, Minister of the Interior Kai Mykkänen noted that there are in the country 9,000 foreigners whose asylum applications have been rejected, referring to the possibility that frustration could lead to violence.

There were no injuries and passengers had helped intimidate the attackers. In one of the cases, a head-on collision was averted narrowly as the bus on the opposite lane noticed the situation just in time.