With the nation immersed in shock and grief after the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, Swedish police looked to grainy images from a security camera and fingerprints on the murder weapon to help them track down the killer.
With no suspect in custody after a 48-hour nationwide manhunt, police said the videotape from the upscale department store where Lindh was stabbed repeatedly Wednesday showed a man matching witness descriptions of her assailant. Cameras did not capture the attack itself.
Yesterday, however, Swedish newspaper published pictures they said were video surveillance images of the killer.
A police spokesman said it was ``deplorable'' if the pictures had been leaked, claiming it could jeopardize the investigation.
The pictures published in the tabloids Aftonbladet and Expressen showed a man wearing a blue cap and a grey sweater with the sleeves rolled up. The man's face was blurred.
Investigators also scoured letters and e-mails addressed to Lindh, after the foreign ministry said she received correspondence attacking her campaign for a "yes" vote in Sweden's upcoming euro referendum.
Swedes vote today in the referendum and Lindh was a leading campaigner for replacing the krona with the common European currency -- an issue that had inspired vehement opposition.
Police said there was no evidence the attack was related to the euro referendum.
A ministry spokesman told reporters that Lindh received six letters and e-mails, some with "harsh language," after she wrote an opinion piece with the chief executive of the Swedish wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson on why the country should adopt the euro.
One letter claimed Lindh was "power hungry" and a stooge of business, but the letters weren't considered threats on her life and weren't given to police, a ministry spokesman told reporters.
In the wake of Lindh's death, however, all correspondence sent to her in recent weeks was being examined, said Margareta Linderoth, a spokeswoman for Sweden's security agency, SAPO.
The authorities widened their search for the man who witnesses said stabbed Lindh in the stomach, chest and arm. Police checked homeless shelters and hotels, among other locations.
Several people were taken in for questioning, police spokeswoman Agnetha Styrwoldt-Alfheim said. At least two, including one who had been labeled a possible suspect by Swedish media, were questioned and released.
Throughout Stockholm, impromptu memorials of roses sprang up at billboards bearing Lindh's picture endorsing the euro campaign. In front of the department store where she was killed, hundreds of candles were lit overnight and a mound of lilies and roses stood more than a meter high.
Lindh was honored in church services, and the imam of Stockholm's mosque, Hedi Arfaoui, said its Friday prayer service was dedicated to her.
"My own country is right now in shock and struck by tragedy," Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf said during a state visit to Denmark. He received a standing ovation from hundreds of business leaders.
Pope John Paul II expressed his condolences on the second day of a trip to Slovakia. "His holiness invokes the divine gifts of consolation and strength upon all who mourn her passing," said a telegram released by the Vatican.
Investigators focused on gathering information from witnesses and were hoping a fingerprint analysis of the weapon -- a multipurpose knife typically used by craftsmen -- would provide more clues. Fingerprints on a store escalator were also being examined.
Jennekvist said earlier police reports that the man left behind a camouflage jacket were incorrect. He said the murderer was unlikely to commit more crimes.
"I think he feels pressured right now and is trying to stay away," he said.
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