Knife attacker injures eight people in Russia

‘A man was moving along the main streets stabbing people’

The scene where an alleged knife attacker (back, covered with white cloth) was shot by police, in Surgut, Russia on Saturday. Photograph: Russian Interior Ministry handout/EPA
The scene where an alleged knife attacker (back, covered with white cloth) was shot by police, in Surgut, Russia on Saturday. Photograph: Russian Interior Ministry handout/EPA

Eight people were injured in a knife attack in the Siberian city of Surgut, the local office of the Russian law enforcement committee said in a statement published on its website.

“A man was moving along the main streets stabbing people”, it said, adding “the attacker has been killed.”

“The committee is investigating attempted murder”, the spokeswoman for the committee said by phone, adding she would not comment on whether the incident was terrorism related.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a stabbing attack, the group’s AMAQ news gency said.

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However, the motive for the midday attack on a central street in Surgut on Saturday has not been determined, the regional branch of the Investigative Committee said.

Four of the wounded were in serious condition, state news agency Tass reported, citing regional health official Vladislav Nigmatulin.

Surgut, with a population of about 320,000, is an oil and gas-producing centre 2,100km (1,300 miles) north-east of Moscow.

Reuters/PA