Posted on 10/12/2002 8:32:55 AM PDT by blam
Saturday, 12 October, 2002, 13:53 GMT 14:53 UK
Finland mall bomber died in blast
The explosion has shocked tranquil Finland
The bomber behind a blast at a busy shopping centre on the outskirts of Helsinki was one of the seven people who died, say police.
We have seen nothing like this in Finland since World War II
Police chief inspector Mikko Maunuksela Police official Tero Haapala said the man was from Helsinki and was under the age of 20.
However, police still have no motive for the attack.
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen said the blast at the three-storey Myyrmanni Shopping Mall in Vantaa was "an act of terror".
The government... will not rest until the guilty one or ones have been brought to justice
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen The blast ripped through the mall at about 1930 (1630 GMT) on Friday, killing six people and causing up to 80 injuries. Thousands of people were shopping there at the time.
A seventh person died on Saturday in hospital, and about a dozen others underwent emergency surgery.
Eyewitnesses spoke of panic, with blood and body parts littering the scene.
Police have not yet identified the type of bomb used.
Interior Minister Ville Itala said the number of victims "shows how terrible and what a disgraceful thing this is".
And Mr Lipponen said the explosion had "shocked all of us Finns".
"The government... will not rest until the guilty one or ones have been brought to justice," he said.
Part of the mall's roof collapsed in the blast, which damaged an area of about 300 square metres (3,000 sq feet).
"We have seen nothing like this in Finland since World War II," said Finnish police chief inspector Mikko Maunuksela, quoted by the French news agency AFP.
Modern complex
The mall in Vantaa, a suburb some 15 kilometres (10 miles) north of the capital, has 138 shops and restaurants. It was opened in 1994 and is run by Citycon, a Finnish property company.
Witness Jami Koskimaka, said: "It was not a small explosion. The floor was shaking."
Antonia Kohl-Makkonen, said: "We were just talking that you should never go shopping on a day like this because of the peak hour.
"Suddenly an enormous bang was heard, actually an explosion and we thought that was a bomb. We left straight away, the situation was chaotic."
Coming to a mall near you?
Seriously, we live in a world where the technology for mass destruction is available to just about everyone everywhere. We will find no solution.
Article does not identify perp, beyond saying he was 20-year-old from Helsinki. I wonder if they have many immigrants in Helsinki.
This is why we have to destroy the regimes which sponsor and inspire these acts. It's only going to get worse with better and better technology available to more people.
It's been available for a long time. There's a decided lack of individual responsibility, morals and in particular respect for others rights that is not being taught and followed.
It depends on what you consider a long time. Today, I can go out shopping within 5 miles of my home and purchase the needed items to make a device that will blow down a small building. None of them would arouse suspicion as they are nescessary support for everyday home items (swinning pools, hot tubs, campers, etc.). Or I could make a cyanide gas bomb and do some real damage on a subway or something. This wasn't true 30 or 40 years ago since the lifestyle we lived then didn't require common access to these items.
You'are right about responsibility and respect for others rights not being taught. But we need to consider exactly what others rights are and what respecting them means. People today are being forced more and more into a narrow channel of what is considered acceptable behavior and lifestyle. "Go west young man" advice to the discontented and restless youth of a century and a half ago is ridiculous advice to those same type of people today. We take this personality type and teach him that all of his instincts and urges are not acceptable; that he must conform to a very restricted bahavior and quash all of his natural desires. We do not give him a socially aceptable means to develop into what he desires to be and force him into becoming something antithetical to his very nature. Then we seem surprised when something goes boom. The psycho who lashes out will probably feel that he is justified because of the violations of his natural rights by society as a whole. We will not make room for those that can't fit within the ordinary frame of society,; In fact, we will tighten the definition of that frame so that more and more people will not fit and will be forced into serious conflict with that society.
So, in my opinion, we face a twofold problem. We are creating more and more social misfits; Angry, ticking time bombs. Our way of life gives more and more access to the things that can be used for mass destruction by those misfits.
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