TURKU – At least two people were killed while six others were left injured Friday in a stabbing attack at two markets in the Finnish city of Turku, police said.
The attack occurred around 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) at two marketplaces close to each other in the city center — Kauppatori, known as Central Market Square, as well as the Puutori Market Square.
According to an eye witness, a man with “a huge white knife” was seen running and stabbing people in his path.
“It was really horrible. We were sitting on a terrace just next to the square and this woman just screamed like hell and this guy was standing in front of her with a huge knife just stabbing people,” he said.
The mayor of Turku, Aleksi Randell, said the city center appears to be safe now and urged citizens to remain calm.
“I want to say this to all our residents: It is difficult to understand that such violence would happen on this scale in Turku,” he said in a statement.
‘Occurrences that have been all too frequent in Europe and around the world have now arrived here, which is what (we’ve) been afraid of.’
Fortunately, the police caught hold of the suspect who is currently undergoing treatment.
The man’s identity and nationality were being investigated. Police said he is likely to have acted alone though it was not possible to completely rule out that other people were involved.
Police did not give any information on the two people killed or the conditions of those wounded in the atttack.
Finland’s top police chief, Seppo Kolehmainen, said it was too early to link the attack to international terrorism.
“Nothing is known about the motives … or what precisely has happened in Turku,” he said.
