Finnish investigators have confirmed that the 18-year-old Moroccan asylum seeker who killed two and injured seven others in the city of Turku last August was a supporter of Islamic State.
Police confirm that after careful examination of data from the terror suspect’s computer and mobile phone that the Moroccan was a supporter of the terror group. Police spokesman Olli Toyras said that while it was clear that 22-year-old Abderrahman Bouanane was a supporter of the group, investigators believe he acted on his own, Bayerischer Rundfunk reports.
Toyras also said that the data from his electronic devices shed some light on the personality of Bouanane. “He saw himself as a fighter, a soldier, an Islamic State man, and he would have loved it if ISIS had claimed the attack,” Toyras said.
Initially, many speculated that the motivation for the attack had to do with the fact that Bouanane had his asylum application rejected. Police now say they do not believe that was the main motive for the attack.
This week, the Finnish government put out a press release indicating that anyone caught engaging in terrorist activities with dual nationality could now see their Finnish citizenship stripped from them. Terrorist activities would include committing acts of terrorism, financing travel to areas to commit acts of terror, and actively participating in activities with recognised terrorist groups.
Last year’s attack shocked many in Finland as the country is not well-known for having a large Islamic extremist scene unlike its neighbour Sweden.
Sweden has seen a dramatic rise in the number of extremists over the last decade with Swedish security services estimating there to be at least 2,000 Islamic radicals last summer, compared to only 200 in 2010.
The rise in radicalism has many in Sweden concerned but also Sweden’s neighbours in the region. Members of the Danish parliament have raised concerns about the growing radical Islamic scene and proposed stricter border controls between Sweden and Denmark to combat any potential threat.