Finnish police request two knife attack suspects be detained for murder
Finnish police have requested that two of five Moroccans arrested over last week’s deadly knife attack in Turku be detained for murder with terrorist intent, a court said on Tuesday.
UPDATE: The teenager asylum seeker admitted on Tuesday killing two people and wounding eight in a knife attack in the Finnish city of Turku, his lawyer said.
In a closed-door court hearing, 18-year-old Abderrahman Mechkah confessed to carrying out Friday’s attack but did not admit to having terrorist motive, lawyer Kaarle Gummerus said.
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“(My client) admits manslaughter and injuries… But what the investigator has brought up this far may not be enough to classify this as a terrorist crime,” Gummerus told Reuters.
Mechkah appeared in court via video link from hospital, where he is being treated after being shot in the leg by police following the stabbings.
The court ordered Mechkah, who has yet to be charged with any offence, to be detained in prison pending trial.
Previously the police had accused only the main suspect, Abderrahman Mechkah, of killing two people and wounding eight in the knife rampage on Friday, while the role of the four other men was unclear.
The court declined to elaborate on the police request. All the suspects will appear in a court hearing due to start at 11 a.m. (0800 GMT).
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