Swedish MP dies after stabbing
Matt Moore in Stockholm
12sep03


SWEDISH Foreign Minister Anna Lindh died after being stabbed repeatedly while shopping in an exclusive department store, doctors and government officials said.

Lindh, 46, died just before 5.30am (1.30pm AEST), after more than 10 hours of surgery at Karolinska Hospital, Prime Minister Goeran Persson said.

"It's with great sadness that I have the information that Anna Lindh died," Persson said. "It feels strange and it's difficult to understand."

The death of the popular foreign minister shocked the Scandinavian country's tradition of openness and spoiled the final days of a campaign leading up to a nationwide referendum on whether to adopt the euro as the national currency.

Police didn't believe the attack was politically motivated.

"The attack against her also hurt the society we've built up and in which we want to live in," Persson told reporters, choking on his words.

Lindh, who was attacked yesterday, had spent most of the night being operated. She suffered severe internal bleeding and liver and stomach injuries.

The foreign minister was stabbed in the stomach, chest and arm, and police were searching for a man wearing a camouflage jacket who fled the store.


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