Knife attack in Russian city of Surgut, seven injured and assailant killed by police

RT
Sat, 19 Aug 2017 12:30 UTC

A man armed with a knife has attacked pedestrians in the Russian city of Surgut, injuring seven. Police killed the assailant, the local branch of the Investigative Committee reported.

The knife attacks happened at around 11:20am local time. Nobody was killed, but the victims of the violence required medical treatment, the report said. Law enforcement initially reported the number of victims as eight, but corrected the statement later.

The attacker was shot dead by a police patrol responding to the emergency reported by witnesses. The man resisted an attempt to arrest him even after a warning shot was fired in the air, the Investigative Committee reported.

The attacker was identified as a Surgut resident in his early 20s, the committee said.

The Surgut police are trying to establish the motive for his stabbing spree.

Investigators are currently trying to verify a claim that the attacker suffered from a mental illness, the police told TASS.

Investigators do not view terrorism as a primary possible motive at the moment, the local police press service told Interfax.

Footage below shows the aftermath of a police confrontation with an armed man.

Surgut is the largest city and provincial capital of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, east of the Ural Mountains. It has a population of over 360,000 and remains a major center for oil and gas production in Russia.

These images were posted on Russian social media, showing scenes of the violence in Surgut.