British man stabbed while defending victims in Finland terrorist attack says he’s ‘no hero'

Hassan Zubier, a paramedic, says he did his 'best and no more'

Harry Cockburn
Saturday 19 August 2017 18:44 BST
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Mr Zubier was on holiday in Turku and was stabbed in the neck, chest and back, while intervening to help another victim
Mr Zubier was on holiday in Turku and was stabbed in the neck, chest and back, while intervening to help another victim

A British man who was severely injured while defending victims of a knife attack in Finland that left two women dead has said he is “not a hero”.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Hassan Zubier, a paramedic born in Kent but who now lives in Sweden, told the BBC that he did “what he was trained for”.

The attack took place in the Market Square in the city of Turku on Friday and left two Finnish women dead and eight people wounded including an Italian national and two Swedes.

Police said the knifeman appeared to have chosen women as his targets, with six of the eight injured people being women, while the two men received their injuries as they attempted to intervene.

Three victims remain in intensive care. One of the injured women was with a baby.

Police shot and detained an 18-year-old suspect from Morocco, and four other Moroccans were detained by police following a raid on an apartment in Turku.

Mr Zubier who was on holiday in Turku, was stabbed in the neck, chest and back, and sustained serious wounds to his arm while trying to stop a woman bleeding to death.

Fatal stabbings in Finland probed as murder with possible terror motive

His girlfriend was one of the women injured in the attack.

Speaking to Swedish newspaper Expressen, he said: “We go to the square and suddenly hear screaming. I turn around. I see a guy [with] a knife in a woman lying on the ground.”

“I rushed to help her and I tried to stop the blood flow, while others gave her heart and lung assistance.”

However, the woman’s injuries were so severe she died in Mr Zubier’s arms.

“My left hand is seriously injured. A nerve is injured, it is not certain that they can save the arm,” he added.

“I am not a hero. I did what I was trained for. I did my best and no more,” he told the BBC.

Police in Finland are now treating the attack as a terrorist incident.

In a statement, the police said: “The act had been investigated as murder, but during the night we received additional information which indicates that the criminal offences are now terrorist killings.”

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila told journalists that Finland had now experienced its first terror attack.

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