HELSINKI/BERLIN: Three people have died and several others injured in separate stabbing attacks in Finland and Germany on Friday, police from the two countries said.
Finnish police said in a news conference that two people have died and six needed hospital treatment after a knife attack in the city of Turku.
Police had yet to confirm how many people had been wounded but witnesses said they had seen several bodies lying on the ground in a busy area of the southwestern city.
Police shot one suspect in the legs and arrested him, while security forces wrote on Twitter that police were “looking for other possible perpetrators.”
“They ask the population to leave and avoid central Turku,” the tweet added.
Public television station Yle reported that central Turku was on lockdown, with businesses shut.
MTV3 television reported that police have raised security at Helsinki airport and at train stations.
In Germany, the stabbing attack happened in the western city of Wuppertal, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Duesseldorf.
Police said they are searching for up to three men who ran away after a stabbing at a store near the city center that left one person dead and another injured.
Marion Heedmann said a 31-year-old man was killed and a 25-year-old man was injured in the incident.
Heedmann said the circumstances of the stabbing were still unclear. Local public broadcaster WDR reported that a verbal altercation has preceded the incident.
Heedmann said a police tactical response team is searching for the fugitive, or fugitives.
The stabbing spree comes with Europe on high alert a day after drivers slammed into pedestrians in twin attacks in Spain, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 100 others. The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the Barcelona attack.
“The government is following the situation in Turku closely and a police operation is under way,” tweeted Prime Minister Juha Sippila ahead of a cabinet meeting.
In 2012, Finland’s then-prime minister Jyrki Katainen escaped a knife attack in Turku while campaigning for municipal elections.
The man who approached him carrying a knife was found to be psychologically disturbed and no charges were brought against him.
(Additional reporting by Arab News)