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Three students injured in attack at school in southern Finland; suspect apprehended

The attacker used a bladed weapon, police said in a statement, adding that the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Three pupils were injured in an attack at a school in southern Finland on Tuesday and a fellow student suspected of carrying out the assault has been apprehended, police said.

Police said they were investigating written material believed to have been published by the suspect prior to the incident, but did not elaborate on the content.

They did not state the age of the victims but said their parents had been informed.

Pupils at the Vahajarvi school in Pirkkala, some 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Helsinki, range from pre-school age to ninth grade, according to its website.

Incident Details

Type of Incident: Stabbing Attack
Date of Incident: May 20, 2025
City: Pirkkala
Country: Finland

About Sentinel

SENTINEL is a European project funded by the European Commission and led by the Security and Crisis Centre (SACC by EJC), the security arm of the European Jewish Congress. It brings together the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), national-level Jewish communities from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Spain, the European Union of Jewish Students, with the support of the Italian Carabinieri and the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic.

The project is designed to strengthen the protection of Jewish places of worship across the European Union through a coordinated set of activities over a three-year period.

SENTINEL will harness AI-enhanced open-source intelligence to monitor and assess current, emerging, and future threats. It will also equip Jewish communities with practical tools, including a mobile security application with a panic button and an interactive map built on real-time incident data.

Training and capacity-building are at the core of the project. These include scenario-based security exercises, crisis management seminars, and both in-person and online training sessions for community security trustees. SENTINEL will also organise EU-wide and local conferences to foster collaboration between Jewish communities, public authorities, and law enforcement agencies.

Complementing these efforts, national and local workshops will promote knowledge-sharing and preparedness, alongside pilot training programmes for law enforcement. A dedicated podcast series will help raise awareness by exploring threat assessments and potential responses.

With its wide-reaching and inclusive approach, SENTINEL will directly benefit to Jewish communities across 23 EU Member States, enhancing resilience, strengthening preparedness, and building long-term cooperation with law enforcement to meet today’s evolving security challenges.