At least 10 people have been killed in a series of knife attacks in Canada. 15 injured victims were taken to hospitals, as police in the province of Saskatchewan announced Sunday (local time) in the provincial capital Regina.

No further details were given about the condition of the victims. Two accused criminals are absconding. He was last seen in an SUV. The motive for the brutal act was initially unclear in the evening.

multiple crime scenes

Police officer Rhonda Blackmore said, “It appears that some victims were targeted and some were randomly selected.” “So it would be extremely difficult to name a motive at this point in time.” There are 13 active crime scenes that are being investigated. “So some of these crime scenes may not have had a dead person, but instead there were injured people who weren’t dead,” Blackmore said. Further victims cannot be ruled out as it was not clear whether all the affected people had informed the authorities.

Blackmore said the victims were attacked in two places in Saskatchewan – in the James Smith Cree Nation reservation for indigenous peoples and in the village of Weldon. The first emergency call was received at 5:40 a.m., and further attacks were reported from nearby crime sites in the minutes that followed. After 7 am, the police issued an early warning to the people. Four hours later, the two suspects are said to have been seen in the provincial capital, Regina, about 300 kilometers further south. The elected leaders of the reserve declared a state of emergency.

Trudeau shocked

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was shocked. “Today’s attacks in Saskatchewan are horrific and heartbreaking. My thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones and those who have been hurt.” Trudeau wrote on Twitter. “We are monitoring the situation closely and ask everyone to follow the latest information from the local authorities. I want to thank all the brave first responders for their commitment to the site.

The provincial prime minister expressed his condolences on behalf of his government. Scott Moe of the Saskatchewan Conservative Party wrote on Twitter: “All Saskatchewan mourns with the victims and their families.” Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Saskatchewan police were using all available resources to search for the two suspects and would keep the public informed of further incidents.

warning to residents

Police were looking for two male suspects, aged 31 and 30, in Saskatchewan and the neighboring provinces of Manitoba and Alberta. The area of ​​these three provinces in central Canada is more than five times that of Germany. Saskatchewan alone is almost twice the size of Germany, but with a much smaller population of just under 1.2 million.

“At this time, we have no evidence that he traveled to any other province,” Blackmore said. Particular attention is paid to Regina, the provincial capital with about 230,000 inhabitants. There people were asked to stay at a safe place and not to take hitchhikers. Additional forces were also ordered for a game at a football stadium, it said.