Knife attack leaves eight injured in Sweden, terror angle being probed

Stockholm: As many as eight people have been injured in a knife attack in southern Sweden on Wednesday. According to a report by Anadolu Agency, the attacker, identified as a 20-year-old male by the Jonkoping county police department, was shot and wounded by police in the Vetlanda locality, where the incident took place.

Some of the victims were in serious condition and the suspect, a man in his 20s, was hospitalised after his arrest, a police spokeswoman told a news conference. 

The attacker was previously known to police for minor crimes, she said. All eight victims were hospitalised and three had life-threatening injuries, the Jonkoping regional council said on its website.

Police said the suspect attacked at least five different locations in Vetlanda.

“We have started a preliminary investigation of attempted murder but there are details in the investigation that make us investigate possible terror motives,” regional head of police Malena Grann told a news conference.

Police were alerted to the attack in Vetlanda, a town of around 13,000 people, around 3 PM and initially said it did not appear to be an act of terrorism. Though the authorities have not given further details about the incident, a probe into the matter has been launched under suspected terrorism.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven condemned the incident. “We confront such heinous acts with the combined force of our society,” he said in a statement, adding he was in constant contact with both the police and the security service.

In April 2017, a radical Islamist drove a truck into crowds of shoppers on a busy street in central Stockholm, killing five people before crashing into a department store. He was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison.

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