Swedish politician stabbed

SWEDISH Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was stabbed several times in the arms, chest and stomach in a frenzied attack yesterday as she was shopping in an exclusive Stockholm department store.

Police said they did not believe the stabbing was politically motivated and were searching for a man wearing a camouflage jacket.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Lindh was in serious condition at the Karolinska Hospital, and undergoing surgery. Her injuries weren’t thought to be life-threatening. The 46-year-old blonde mother-of-two was inside the Nordiska Kompaniet department store near the parliament building when attacked, witnesses said.

Sweden has a reputation as one of Europe’s safest countries but the country has seen political assassination. Prime Minister Olof Palme was killed as he walked home from a cinema with his wife in 1986. The murder has never been solved.

Ms Lindh, is popular among the nine million Swedes for her doggedness in making sure the nation is a global player in diplomacy.