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Saturday, August 19, 2017

Finland Stabber a Moroccan Asylum Seeker, Specifically Targeted Women, May Have Been Part of Larger Terror Cell

On the site where two people bled to death, a woman plays a lullaby on a traditional Finnish instrument 

Finnish authorities revealed that the Turku, Finland stabber, who was injured but is now in custody, is an eighteen-year-old asylum seeker from Morocco. After first claiming that there was no evidence that it was a terror attack, the authorities stated that they had "received additional information" confirming that "the criminal offenses are now terrorist killings." Five other men were arrested.

The article from The Telegraph, below, summarizes the recent news as well as highlighting what has now become a mini-story in the international press - that the attacker targeted women, and the two men that were injured were hurt trying to come to their defense.       
Finland 'terror' attack: Briton injured 'trying to save' women targeted in attack which left two dead 
A British man was injured in the Finland terror attack as he tried to help save eight women from a knife-wielding attacker who killed two of them. 
The attacker stabbed two Finnish women to death and injured six more in a market place in the city of Turku, 90 miles west of the capital, Helsinki, on Friday, as a British man tried to save them. 
Police shot and wounded the 18-year-old attacker in the leg and arresting him minutes after the afternoon stabbing rampage in the busy market square. 
The police say the Moroccan man specifically targeted women and it was the intervention of the British man and one other that helped to save more lives before he was apprehended. 
"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. 
"One man was injured trying to help a victim and one man tried to stop the attacker," Granroth said. 
Two Finnish citizens were killed in the attack and a British man, two Swedes and an Italian were injured. 
The victims ranged in age from 15 to 67. 
The British Embassy in Helsinki said: "We have been in touch with the British National and offered consular support." 
The British man sustained minor injuries, he was taken to hospital for treatment and later released. 
Hassan Zubier, 45, the other man who tried to help, was repeatedly stabbed in the neck and chest as he tried to protect his girlfriend and others. 
One victim died in his arms as he tried to save her. 
"We were strolling around the square when we suddenly heard someone screaming. I turned around and saw a guy stabbing a woman with a knife while she was on the ground," Mr Zubier told Swedish daily Expressen from the Turku hospital. 
"I rushed to help her and tried to stop the blood flow. Others gave her heart and lung assistance." 
Mr Zubier, a Swedish national. 
"I try to stop the violent bleeding from her throat. Then he stabs me with the knife again. The woman is so badly injured and she died in my arms." 
Mr Zubier and his girlfriend were on holiday in Turku. They were planning to have taken a cruise ship back to Stockholm on Friday night. 
Finnish police say the suspect, from Morocco, entered the country last year and was going through the asylum process. 
"The act had been investigated as murder, but during the night we received additional information which indicates that the criminal offenses are now terrorist killings," police said in a statement. 
The suspect's "identity is known to the police. He is an 18-year-old Moroccan citizen," it said. 
The attacks on Thursday in Barcelona were also carried out by a Moroccan-born terror cell, which left 14 dead. 
"There was a raid and we have now six suspects in custody, the main suspect and five others," detective superintendent Markus Laine of the National Bureau of Investigation said. 
"We are investigating the role of these five other people but we are not sure yet if they had anything to do with [the attack]... We will interrogate them, after that we can tell you more. But they had been in contact with the main suspect," Mr Laine added.

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