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CNN BREAKING NEWS
Swedish Foreign Minister Stabbed Several Times
Aired September 10, 2003 - 12:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We have a shocking story that's just coming in to CNN we want to share with you, horrible developments in Sweden right now. The Swedish foreign minister, Anna Lindh, was stabbed several times in her stomach and her hand, as she shopped in a fashionable Stockholm department store, by a knife-wielding man who ran from the scene.
According to our reporters on the scene, Lindh underwent surgery at a hospital. Officials have described her condition as serious, but not life-threatening.
She is 46 years old, the mother of two young sons.
Witnesses described seeing a man wearing a green military-style jacket stab the foreign minister as she shopped at a department store, not far from the ministry -- the Foreign Ministry. The man was then seen fleeing the scene.
There is a massive hunt underway in Stockholm, and presumably elsewhere, for this individual. Unclear what the motive might have been, although some are suggesting this does come only a few days before the scheduled vote in Sweden on whether to accept the European currency, the euro. Lindh was in favor of the euro, as so many other leaders in the Swedish government.
Soon after the stabbing, we're told, campaigning for the Sunday vote was suspended. They're going to decide presumably tomorrow whether to go forward with that referendum. Unclear what exactly happened.
Once again, the 46 year-old foreign minister of Sweden, Anna Lindh, has been stabbed. She's in serious condition right now in a Stockholm hospital, not life-threatening.
We'll watch this shocking story and get some more information for you.
One of the rising stars of the European politicians, Anna Lindh now in serious condition in a Stockholm hospital.
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