Sweden: Swedish police were continuing their search last night for the murderer of Foreign Affairs Minister Ms Anna Lindh, who died yesterday after being stabbed several times in a department store in central Stockholm on Wednesday evening.
Police discovered the knife used in the attack and also some items of clothing the murderer was wearing. All have been sent for forensic examination.
"Our biggest hope is with the knife," said Ms Stina Wessling, spokeswoman for the Stockholm police. "This can give us fingerprints which would be very useful."
An enormous police effort has been initiated across Sweden since the murder, particularly in the Stockholm area.
A detailed search continued last night at the NK department store in central Stockholm where Ms Lindh was attacked, as well as at nearby construction sites and the surrounding area.
Stockholm's police chief, Mr Leif Jennekvist, said they were working with several leads but asked the public for further help.
Mr Jennekvist said police were looking for individuals known already to them. He suspected that the murderer was still in the Stockholm area. "I don't think the time-factor is an issue at the moment," Mr Jennekvist told Swedish reporters.
No motive has yet been established for the attack, though several theories have emerged, including one that that it was a bag-snatching attempt that went wrong. This theory arose following a number of eye-witness statements.
Another theory is that the attack was politically motivated. Ms Lindh had been the most visible campaigner on the Yes side of Sweden's euro referendum campaign, on which voting takes place on Sunday.
The government decided yesterday that polling would go ahead despite the murder. Leaders of the country's main political parties met and agreed unanimously to proceed with the vote.
The Prime Minister, Mr Göran Persson, said: "We must show resolve and unite around the values we want Sweden to embody. "This is the only way in which we can honour Anna Lindh. It was to democracy and freedom she was most committed. It was the cause of peace and solidarity that she made her own. This we must never forget."
Mr Persson encouraged the public to vote on Sunday in honour of the late Minister.
The Moderate party leader, Mr Bo Lundgren, said: "The best way we can defend the open society, the best way we can honour the memory and all the work that Anna Lindh has done, is to go on with the referendum."
The leading woman on the No side of the campaign, Centre party leader Ms Maud Olofsson, gave a tearful tribute to Ms Lindh.
"It's a tragedy for Sweden. We've lost a great Minister. I have lost a friend and two children have lost their mother. It's awful."
She added that she felt that this particular referendum campaign had been the most aggressive she had ever been involved with.
"I have had a lot of hard words directed at me which has made it very difficult to take part in the referendum. I hope this will give us some advice on how campaigns should be run in the future."
Campaigning for the referendum ceased on Wednesday once news of the attack emerged.
Ms Lindh had been shopping with a friend in the NK department store on Hamngatan, in the heart of Stockholm's shopping area, when the attacker lunged forward and stabbed her repeatedly in the chest, abdomen and arm.
She was rushed to Stockholm's Karolinska hospital and was operated on soon after her arrival.
She had been suffering from internal bleeding and her liver had also been badly damaged, resulting in continuous blood transfusions throughout Wednesday night.
At 3 a.m. yesterday, surgeons announced that her condition was still critical but had improved. However, by 4.30 a.m. it changed dramatically for the worse, when her lungs began to stop functioning and her blood circulation deteriorated quickly.
She died at the hospital just before 5.30 a.m.
Ms Lindh's position has been taken temporarily by Jan Karlsson, the junior minister.