Stabbing in Finland a Terrorist Attack

At least one person is dead and several more injured after a man ran through a market in Turku, Finland, with a knife. The attack is being widely reported throughout Europe as details continue to flow in.

The Guardian reports that the attacker was shot by police.

Several people have been stabbed in a knife attack in a market square in the south-west city Finnish city of Turku.

Police shot and arrested a man after the attack, and said they were hunting other possible attackers. They warned people to stay away from the city as they reinforced security nationwide.

At least one person was seen lying on the ground at Turku’s Puutori market square on Friday afternoon and others were reported to be hurt, according to YLE Uutiset, the main news programme of Finland’s public broadcaster.

The Turun Sanomat newspaper reported that at least one person had been killed. The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper said eight people had been taken to hospital, and some of them were in critical condition. There were four or five ambulances near the city’s main square, the paper reported a witness as saying.

Officials will not say whether this attack is a terrorist attack or not. Again from The Guardian:

Paula Risikko, the interior minister, said she did not yet know whether the attack was related to terrorism. Finland is traditionally peaceful but the Finnish security intelligence service raised the terrorism threat level in June, saying it had become aware of more serious terrorism-related plans.

However, a witness at the Tukru market has little doubt as to the stabber’s motives. “A man started running around and yelling Allah Akbar, ran past me, maybe couple of meters from me and I saw he has a big knife in his hand, kept running, ran past a woman pushing a baby carriage, he hit her on the back twice. When I left the market I saw another victim on the ground, receiving CPR. The mother was bleeding from her mouth,” the witness said, asking for her identity not to be shared.

Additionally, the witness shared that local news is indicating that a second victim has died, though PJ Media has been unable to confirm that at this time. [Police have now confirmed the second death. –Ed.]

As a general rule, however, people who run around trying to kill people while yelling “Allah Akbar” aren’t collecting for the United Way. They’re terrorists, plain and simple. It’s worth noting that Finland has given residency permits to over 60,000 refugees in the last 12 months, though the attacker’s identity is not known at this time.