Vietnam condemns fatal knife attack in Finland

Vietnam has sent its condolences to Finland after a knife attack last Friday that left two people dead in the country's southwestern city of Turku.

“Vietnam is extremely concerned and strongly condemns the terrorist attacks in Europe, with the most recent being the knife attack against civilians in Turku, Finland on August 18,” foreign ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement on Tuesday.

Eight other people were injured when the attacker went on a stabbing rampage in a market square. Police shot the man in the leg and arrested him.

Reuters said he has been identified as Abderrahman Mechkah, a 18-year-old Moroccan asylum seeker whose application had been rejected.

Mechkah confessed to the killings but did not admit any terrorist motives, the news wire quoted lawyer Kaarle Gummerus as saying.

The attack happened just a day after an Islamist militant cell used a van to kill 13 people and injure 120 in Barcelona, Spain. The so-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the van attack, as well as a separate deadly assault a few hours later in the coastal resort of Cambrils.

Police on Monday shot dead 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub, who they had identified as the driver of the van, Reuters reported.