Finland suspect an asylum seeker, targeted women in Turku: Police

Moroccan man suspected of killing two people and injuring eight others in a stabbing attack in Finland was an asylum seeker who targeted women in his attack, police said

The Moroccan man suspected of killing two people and injuring eight others in a stabbing attack in Finland was an asylum seeker who targeted women in his attack, police said Saturday.

Candles at Turku Market Square for the victims of Friday's stabbings are pictured in Turku, Finland August 18, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)

“We think that the attacker especially targeted women, and the men were wounded after coming to the defence of the women,” superintendent Christa Granroth of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation told reporters.

Two women were killed in Friday’s attack, and eight other people were injured. Among the eight were six women and two men, police said.

“One man was injured trying to help a victim and one man tried to stop the attacker,” Granroth said.

Police shot and wounded the knife-wielding suspect, arresting him minutes after an afternoon stabbing rampage at a busy market square in Turku in southwestern Finland.

Police identified him only as an 18-year-old Moroccan national who had arrived in Finland in early 2016 and who had sought asylum.