Posted on 10/13/2002 3:36:20 PM PDT by Ranger
Sunday, October 13, 2002
The bomb shattered the three-storey shopping mall Friday evening in Vantaa, 15 kilometres north of the capital, Helsinki.
The dead included a seven-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, police said. Thirty-three people were being treated in hospitals Sunday but none of them was in critical condition, officials said. In all, 80 people were injured in the blast.
The suspect, an ethnic Finn, lived in Vantaa and studied chemistry at a technical college, police said. His name was withheld pending the outcome of the investigation.
Chief Superintendent Tero Haapala of the National Bureau of Investigation would not speculate on a motive.
"We have no indication that anyone else was involved or that the suspect knew any of the injured or dead," Haapala said.
He said found material at the teen's home linked him to the explosion, but he didn't provide more details.
Police were studying closed-circuit video footage of the mall and asked the public to tell them about possible sightings of the suspect before the explosion.
"The investigation of the explosive device has proven to be very complicated," said Kimmo Himberg, a forensic scientist at the bureau of investigation.
Himberg said the bomb didn't contain military explosives, but rather gunshot pellets and metal, suggesting it was homemade.
The attack shocked this Nordic country of 5.2 million people. Finns placed flowers and lit hundreds of candles near the scene of the blast and packed a memorial service Saturday at a nearby church.
"Why did it happen at a shopping mall where there were lots of children?" asked Jarmo Elomaa, 44, who was struck by 17 pellets and shrapnel and was recovering at a hospital Sunday.
"Why just outside McDonald's where lots of families go?"
Bingo!!!!
Bet he was a Muslim!!!!!
. . .and this means? Could it be? . . .
Just a guess but maybe he wanted to kill a lot of people?
(Yes, I do understand what you mean. This was an attack on "American Interests". It is just the sheer absurdity of his question.)
a.cricket
Cripes, don't people know what a $(@!# FINN is?
Here's a helpful hint: The name of the country is FINland.
Other than a few Lapps in the North, the NATIVE inhabitants are pale pasty white Nordic people.
So, children, can anyone tell me what a FINN is? Anyone correct gets to clap the erasers.
And I'll hazard a WILD guess his first name isn't Abdul or Mohammed. Again,a WILD off the wall, crazy speculation.
. . .right, that would be 'native' Finn. . .now, what about the 'ethnic' Finns; or are they the same as the 'natives as well; or perhaps this writer into PC for Finns. . .
. . .and yes, could be a 'Globalist'; anti or otherwise. . . or an 'Earth First' zealot. . .or even a suicidal PETA devotee. . .
. . .the only thing that raises the flag in another direction is the quiet reference to 'ethnic' Finn and that brings me back to the beginning. . .which is. . .what/who precisely might they be referring to ???
The Moslem population of Finland is now 4%, which from what I've been reading about other European countries is pretty much when trouble starts.
< snip >
Helsinki, Jumad Thani 26/September 4 (IINA) – Muslims in Finland constitute about four percent of the country’s population, according to the chairman of the Federation of Finnish Journalists (FFJ). Speaking to the International Islamic News Agency, he said Muslims enjoy full religious freedom in the country.
Islam is the second largest religion in Finland after Christianity. The Muslim population is concentrated in the capital Helsinki. The first Muslims to arrive in Finland were the Tatars, who came during the 18th and 19th centuries of the Gregorian calendar. They were followed by other immigrants from not less than 12 countries.
“More than 3,000 new Muslim immigrants have come to Finland during the past one year from different parts of the Islamic world,” the FFJ chairman said. He pointed out that about 1,000 journalists from FFJ’s 12,000 members are Muslim.
< snip >
The most popular immigrant group I saw were Swedes.
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