Posted on 10/12/2002 7:38:47 PM PDT by keithtoo
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish police said Saturday that the suspect in a bomb blast at a packed Helsinki shopping mall was a teenage student who was among the seven killed and had probably acted alone.
Tero Haapala, chief inspector of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), said the suspect was Finnish and had been studying at Helsinki University. But he said there was no clear motive for Friday's attack, which injured more than 80 people.
Authorities said the student had no criminal record.
"We have probable reason to believe he was acting by himself and that no partners were involved in the horrific act," NBI Deputy Chief Jari Liukku told Reuters.
"Also, we don't have reason to believe that there were any strong ideological reasons for this act."
Police said the bomb, containing four to six pounds of explosives and metal shards, went off in the center of the mall near a crowd of children being entertained by a clown. One child was among the dead.
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen said he was glad the explosion, the deadliest for decades in relatively crime-free Finland, did not appear to be the work of terrorists.
Around 2,000 people were doing their evening shopping at the Myyrmanni mall in Vantaa, a suburb 10 miles north of the capital, when the bomb went off at about 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. EDT) on Friday.
Terrified shoppers fled screaming amid flying debris.
"...The number of victims shows what a shocking, ruthless and despicable thing this is," said a somber Interior Minister Ville Itala.
Many of the injured lost limbs, but hospitals said no one was in a critical condition.
"It was a pretty well made bomb aimed at injuring as many people as possible," Liukku told Reuters. He said the student had probably not intended to kill himself.
Finnish YLE national radio said the student had been studying chemistry and that police had found documents on how to build a bomb in his home. The NBI declined to comment on this.
Hospital officials said most of the casualties were Finns although some were foreigners who were permanent residents.
SHOPPERS PANICKED
Witnesses said they had heard a blast and then the lights went out. They said many people panicked and children were screaming.
"There was an explosion, the windows shook. The floor shook. I didn't see a fire but I saw some 50 to 100 people rushing out of the mall," security guard Jami Koskimaki told Reuters.
"Suddenly we heard an explosion and thought it was a bomb. It was chaotic," said another witness, Antonia Koki-Makkonen.
The blast damaged an area of around 3,200 square feet sending metal and glass flying across the three-story building.
Toolo hospital chief doctor Eero Hivensalo told Reuters: "We've been dealing with severe blast and crush injuries, with maimed arms and legs.
"The main problem is all the metal pieces embedded in injured bodies. It is clear someone intended to cause a lot of damage to a lot of people in a very dense area."
President Tarja Halonen and Lipponen expressed their condolences and attended a memorial church service in Vantaa.
"This has never happened in Finland before. The explosion has shocked all of us Finns," Lipponen said. "I can assure you that the government...will not rest until the guilty one or ones have been brought to justice."
It seems so.
I'll call this a Flight 800 guess...
I think there's more to this, it doesn't pass the smell test.
Uh, what does this sentence mean? They just said the student was killed by his own bomb and that they didn't think there was anyone else involved. If that's the case, the case the young murderer should be receiving justice right about now.
Okay, he was a resident of Finland, but was he an ethnic Finn? A curious detail left out of the article...
Tiptoeing ever so gingerly around something, aren't they?
Oooooh, you'd better be careful! Keep this stuff up and some ayatollah/mufti/imam/headcheese type is gonna issue one of them there "Fat Wars" agin' ya! Then you'll really be sorry!
I wonder if the bomber got his materials from these guys or their friends.
Another Helsinki bomb story from March, 2001.
http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20010313IE11
Vuorikatu bomb was not primed
No percussion cap; bombers' motives remain a mystery
The two men caught by police in the centre of Helsinki with four kilos of a powerful explosive in their bag on Saturday night apparently were not planning to cause any explosions very soon.
Helsinki police said on Monday that the four kilos of porous ammonium nitrate and the roll of fuse found in the bag did not constitute a bomb ready for immediate detonation: that would have required a percussion cap which was missing from the bag.
According to a Finnish military expert, it is very unlikely for ammonium nitrate to explode accidentally.
Ammonium nitrate is often used to blast rock at construction sites, and it is not as powerful an explosive as dynamite, for instance.
The police investigating the case are trying to find out where the two men got the explosive and what they were planning to do with it. No information was given on any statements the two may have made so far.
The two were detained in front of the Mekka hostel [which is near to the University, I think] at Vuorikatu 8 after a resident of the building had called the police to report two men in the courtyard acting suspiciously. When the police saw that the bag they had contained explosives, the building was evacuated and the area was cordoned off for a few hours.
The two men , born in 1960 and 1958 respectively, were arrested on suspicion of preparing a dangerous crime. They could also face charges of a lesser crime involving the illegal possession of dangerous explosives.
The two, known as "Kossu" and "Rafu" have both had dealings with the police before. According to information received by Helsingin Sanomat both had lived at the Mekka a couple of months earlier but had been evicted.
My family is of Finnish ancestry, so I've spent plenty of time around Finns. The VAST majority (i.e., every one that I've met) have been exceedingly nice, painfully reserved, almost pacifistic folk. If you ran over their dog, they'd apologize for how inconsiderate the dog was, give you money for a good car wash, and invite you over for dinner.
Sure it could have been an ethnic Finn, but it sounds more than a little implausible.
They sound like they would make very good neighbors.
I saw a program years ago about the Finns being the shyest and most reserved people in the world.
Do you mean someone similar to this young man?
Swedish Hijack Suspect Released
An undated police handout picture of Kerim Chatty, who was released from custody by the Swedish prosecution authority in Stockholm, 30 September 2002. Chatty had been held for a month on suspicion of planning to hijack a London-bound airliner from Vasteras. AFP photo...
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