Knife attack that killed two “likely terror act”

HELSINKI» The knife attack in western Finland that left two people dead and seven others wounded is “a likely terror act,” Finland’s intelligence agency said Saturday, while police said Europol was investigating if it had any ties to deadly vehicle attacks in Spain.

The suspect — an 18year-old Moroccan asylumseeker — was shot and wounded in the thigh by police during his rampage Friday in the city of Turku. He was hospitalized under guard — still in intensive care Saturday — and is being investigated for murder with possible terrorist intent, police said.

His name has not been released but investigators say he came to Finland in early 2016 seeking asylum.

“It’s likely at this moment that we’re dealing with a terror attack,” intelligence agency investigator Pekka Hiltunen said, adding that it was investigating the suspect’s connections to the Islamic State group, since IS “has previously encouraged this kind of behavior.”

The agency however did not change the country’s threat assessment following the Friday attack.

Crista Granroth of the National Bureau of Investigation said the suspect’s attack was very focused.

“We think the attacker was going after women,” Granroth said, adding that one man was slashed with the knife when he tried to stand between the attacker and a woman.

The suspect has yet to be questioned, while four others, also Moroccans living in Turku who know him, were detained on suspicion of involvement. An international arrest warrant had been issued for a sixth person, police said, declining to elaborate.