Bomb attack shocks residents in reception centre in Southwestern Finland
White car recorded on surveillance camera; police say explosive device was dangerously powerful
An explosion occurred in the yard of the Finnish Red Cross reception centre in Suomusjärvi in Southwestern Finland at 3.00 a.m. on Monday.
Nobody was injured in the explosion, but the blast caused some damage to the property.
Several windows were shattered and the roof of a nearby garden shelter was ripped off.
A white car, apparently rather old, was seen at the scene only a couple of minutes prior to the blast. An image of the vehicle was recorded by a surveillance camera.
Deputy Manager Päivi Nikkola reports that the residents were shocked at the attack, and they are being given crisis assistance to help them to unload their feelings about the incident.
”Such an incident is bound to upset the residents, particularly when many of them come from countries where such violent events can occur frequently”, Nikkola notes.
The Red Cross reception centre has a total of 21 asylum-seekers, coming for example from Afghanistan and Somalia.
Most of them are adults, but some teenagers are also resident in the centre.
According to the police, they cannot gauge yet whether or not the act was racist-motivated, even though it was the first assumption.
There is no information about the perpetrator or perpetrators.
All they have is a CCTV photo of a white two-door passenger saloon with black rubber trim panels.
The nature of the explosive is still unclear, but Detective Inspector Pertti Läksy regards it as highly dangerous and liable to cause death if any people had been nearby.
”The explosive may have been the size of a stick of dynamite or slightly smaller”, Läksy says.
The technical crime scene investigation group of the police were working at the scene all morning.
The police are investigating the incident as sabotage.
When the explosion occurred, the reception centre’s night duty officer was present, but from now on the security measures will be stepped up.
In the future, a guard from a security company will always be present at the reception centre.
The building housing the reception centre was previously known as Motel Syvälampi, which was notorious as a venue for large-scale prostitution. The motel was turned into a Red Cross reception centre early this year.
Threats and attacks against reception centres have so far been very rare in Finland.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 16.6.2009 - TODAY |
 Bomb attack shocks residents in reception centre in Southwestern Finland |
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