At least seven people have been wounded in a knife attack in the Russian Siberian city of Surgut, local criminal investigators say, and the attacker has been shot dead by police.
The militant Islamic State group, monitored in Cairo, said one of its fighters had carried out the attack on Saturday, though a Russian law enforcement spokeswoman would not comment on whether police regarded the incident as terrorism-related.
"A man was moving along the main streets stabbing people", the local law enforcement committee in Surgut said in a statement on its website. No one was killed in the attack.
The attacker, who was born in 1994, had been killed, it said. It did not identify him by name.
"The committee is investigating attempted murder", its spokeswoman told Reuters by phone.
"The attacker responsible for the stabbing incident in Surgut in Russia is a fighter of the Islamic State," the group said through the AMAQ news agency.
Finland terror
Meanwhile, Finnish police are investigating knife attacks that killed two and wounded eight in the city of Turku as crimes related to terrorism.
The suspect was an 18-year Moroccan, police added. The two people killed were Finns, and an Italian and two Swedish citizens were among the injured.
"Due to information received during the night, the Turku stabbings are now being investigated as murders with terrorist intent," the National Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
Following the attacks on Friday, police shot the suspected attacker in the leg and arrested him.
Security was reinforced nationwide with increased patrols and more surveillance in case more people were involved.
Flags were at half-mast on Saturday across the Nordic country where violent crime is relatively rare.
Still, the Security Intelligence Service raised the terrorism threat level in June to 'elevated' from 'low', saying it had become aware of terrorism-related plans in Finland.
Reuters
