Police shot and wounded a suspect after a stabbing spree in which a man killed two people and wounded eight others in the Finnish city of Turku today.
Within hours of the attack the force announced increased police patrols across the country.
"There are eight victims in the stabbing. Two dead and six injured," Turku police had earlier tweeted after the assault in a market square. A hospital official said all the victims were adults.
The number of injured was later amended to eight people.
Police shot a suspect in the thigh minutes after the attack at another square nearby, arresting him and confiscating his knife.
His identity has not yet been established, police said four hours after the attack, nor was the motive for the attack clear.
While security forces wrote on Twitter that police were "looking for other possible perpetrators", police said it was likely there was only one attacker.
The stabbing spree comes with Europe on high alert a day after drivers ploughed into pedestrians in twin attacks in Spain, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 100 others.
The attack took place in the heart of the port city in southwestern Finland this afternoon.
"The perpetrator stabbed two people on the market square, one of whom came to the aid of the other," police said.
"Then the perpetrator left the square to a busy street and stabbed more people."
Police arrested a suspect minutes later.
One victim died at the scene and the other in hospital, police said.
Police said the suspect in custody was being treated in hospital.
Central Turku - located about 140kms from the capital Helsinki - was swiftly cordoned off and shops and restaurants closed.
Police also tweeted that they had raised their emergency readiness across the country after the stabbing, increasing security at airports and train stations and putting more police on the streets.
"The number of patrols is being increased, information gathering is intensified," they wrote.
Finland's National Bureau of Investigation is handling the case, and investigators are examining surveillance camera footage from the scene to get a clear picture of events.
Prime Minister Juha Sipila tweeted that his government was "following the situation in Turku closely and the police operation underway".
Police refused to comment on whether the stabbing had been terror-related.
"At this stage of our investigations we can't say if it is a matter of terrorism," police told a press conference.
In June, Finland's intelligence and security agency Supo raised the country's terror threat level by a notch, from "low" to "elevated", the second notch on a new four-tier scale.
It said at the time it saw an increased risk of an attack committed by the so-called Islamic State.
"Supo has become aware of more serious terrorism-related projects and plans in Finland," it said.
