Terror attack in Finland kills two and wounds eight.

A memorial for the victims in Turku. Reuters. 

A terrorist attack in Finland ended with the suspect shot, two dead and eight wounded in Turku. Reuters. The attacker was armed with a knife and stabbed multiple people before police arrived and shot him in the leg. His identity hasn't been released and neither has his motive. Police believe that he was not part of a larger terror cell and acted alone. Finland is a generally peaceful country, but worries about terrorism have increased, due in part to the ramming attack in neighboring Stockholm, Sweden last April. The attack comes a day after the massive terror attacks and raids in Spain. 

My Comment:

Yet another terrorist attack. The Reuters article was very cautious to not say this was Islamic terrorism, but that's just them being careful. There is video where it sounds like someone is yelling "Allah Akbar" and the Finish police have admitted that the attacker had a "foreign background". Though that isn't conclusive proof of this being a terror attack caused by a Muslim extremist, it makes any other option less likely. And honestly, if it wasn't an Islamic attack, what else would it be? Just some random psycho? Seems unlikely.  

The attacker was fairly disgusting in his choice of targets. Other sources say that he stabbed a woman who had a baby with her. I guess there is something to be said for him not stabbing the baby as well, but still, how horrible is that? These attackers have no shame. 

Finland is about the last place in the world where I would expect a terror attack. It's just a country that doesn't make the news very often. I was vaguely aware that they were taking refugees in as well, but my impression was that it wasn't a large number. I also thought that a lot of those refugees left Finland because it is fairly cold and miserable there in winter. 

Still, Finland now joins the ranks of European countries that have had a terrorist attack. this is a minor one but it counts nonetheless. It seems as though any of the countries that participated in the refugee program had to have these kinds of terror problems...

This seems very likely to be a case of a lone wolf attacker. The plot was fairly simple and doesn't look like it had anything in the way of a complex terror plot. There was only one attacker and he wasn't armed with anything other than a knife. That doesn't seem to be a major plot to me. Just a lone guy inspired by terrorists. I guess there is a small chance he was in contact with other terrorists, but my gut says this was a lone wolf attack. 

Given that this was likely a one wolf attack, I don't know if we can call this an ISIS attack or not. My guess is that the attacker was inspired by ISIS propaganda and the various actions that ISIS has taken. I doubt that he had any contact with any larger terrorist group, but if he pulled off this attack in the name of ISIS, I am comfortable in calling it an ISIS attack. 

I would not be surprised if the triggering event for this attack was the massive terrorist attack in Spain. Though that attack only killed 14 people, it was the largest ISIS attack in recent memory. When a major terrorist attack goes down, it's not surprising when the lone wolves come out of the woodwork and launch their own attacks. That doesn't mean that if the attacks in Spain never happened this one wouldn't have, but I do think that this follow up attack was chosen for maximum impact. 

It is fairly disappointing to see an uptick in terrorism in Europe after a long lull. After the London Bridge attack, there wasn't much in the way of successful terror attacks in Europe for most of June and all of July. That good luck was apparently too good to last as the past few days in August have been a disaster. And given that these attacks tend to come in streaks, I would not be surprised if we had more terror attacks before the month is over...