Finnish sword attack suspect kept under arrest

Finnish sword attack suspect kept under arrest
By Reuters
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HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Finnish district court ordered on Friday the continued detention of a man suspected of killing a Ukrainian woman and wounding nine people with a sword at a vocational school in eastern Finland on Tuesday, police said after the hearing.

The man, named in court as 24-year-old Joel Marin, is suspected of one murder and nine attempted murders, Finland's National Bureau of Investigation said in a statement, after asking the court to order that he be held in custody while investigations continued.

Charges against Marin must be pressed in court by Feb. 13 at latest, the court ruled.

Marin participated in the hearing via a live video stream from hospital where he is being held after being shot by police after the attack.

Police said Marin had entered his classroom with what they described as "a sabre-type of bladed weapon" and attacked his teacher and fellow students, leaving one woman dead and nine wounded in the town of Kuopio.

The dead woman was a 23-year-old from Ukraine who studied at the school with the attacker, police said.

"We already have quite a good understanding of the course of events but defining the motive and other factors behind the act require persevering with investigations and going through the suspect's personal history," chief investigator Olli Toyras said in a statement.

Finland's Prime Minister Antti Rinne travelled to Kuopio on Friday to visit the school and to meet locals.

(Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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