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AP - Police released pictures of a possible suspect and combed for DNA from the knife used to kill Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, as evidence mounted that her slaying could swing some Swedes to vote yes in a crucial referendum to adopt the euro.
Opposition to the common currency has been strong in the Scandinavian country of nine million in the run-up to the referendum.
But after the stabbing death of Lindh, an ardent euro supporter, the "yes" side has surged and polls suggest a close finish.
"I'm convinced of the possibility we will have a small majority for the 'yes' side," Finance Minister Bosse Ringholm said as he met with other European finance ministers in Stresa, Italy.
"It is ... my sense over the last few days and weeks that there's a chance for a 'yes'."
Police said they were making progress in their effort to find the man who stabbed Lindh at an upmarket department store on Wednesday.
But no suspect was in custody three days after the attack that has shocked a country still haunted by the 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme.
Unlike the Palme probe, in which no weapon was recovered, police have the craftman's knife used to kill Lindh and hoped DNA analysis would help them find the suspect, described by witnesses as a 30-year-old stocky, acne-scarred Swede with shoulder-length hair.
Investigators also released pictures from a surveillance camera at Nordiska Kompaniet showing a man police said fit the description.
He was clad in a blue baseball cap and gray hooded sweater, a Nike logo clearly visible, with his sleeves rolled up.
"It could be the perpetrator, it could be a good witness," Jennekvist told reporters in Stockholm.
Police decided to release pictures from the tapes after two tabloids obtained them and published them.
Jennekvist said police were not sure of the man's identity, but had received several tips from people who saw them in the newspapers.
He carefully noted that police were not yet calling the man a suspect.
Forensics experts confirmed that the craftsman's knife found at the scene of Lindh's stabbing was used to kill her, but no fingerprints could be pulled from it.
Investigators will request help from British or German experts with more sophisticated equipment to identify possible DNA on the handle of the red Mora knife, said Olof Egerstedt, head of the National Laboratory of Forensic Science.
Egerstedt said a sweater and a cap recovered near the scene matched those worn by the man on the surveillance tape.
The killing, only blocks away from where Palme was shot dead 17 years ago, served as a grim reminder of the risks embedded in the Scandinavian country's open form of government.
Like Palme, Lindh didn't have any bodyguards when she was attacked.
The murder also stilled the increasingly fiery debate over adopting the euro, as both sides agreed to call off their campaigns, but to go ahead with the referendum.
Some analysts predicted Lindh's death would likely help the "yes" campaign, inspiring sympathy votes.
A Gallup poll confirmed support for the euro was gaining strength, showing the yes side with a narrow lead - 43 per cent to 42 per cent - over nay-sayers.
Another survey, by Temo, showed euro opponents ahead 46 per cent to 40 per cent, while 14 per cent were undecided.
Both surveys polled 1,000 people and had a three per cent margin of error.
Many Swedes have argued that adopting the currency would give the rest of Europe too much control of their cradle-to-grave welfare state. Euro supporters fear Sweden would be sidelined in EU affairs if it votes "no".
Police said there was no evidence the attack was related to the euro referendum.
But Alf Svensson, leader of the Christian Democratic Party and a euro supporter, told AP that he had received several threatening emails and letters because of his stance, including death threats.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Lindh received six letters and emails, 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 said.
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.
©AAP 2003
Opposition to the common currency has been strong in the Scandinavian country of nine million in the run-up to the referendum.
But after the stabbing death of Lindh, an ardent euro supporter, the "yes" side has surged and polls suggest a close finish.
"I'm convinced of the possibility we will have a small majority for the 'yes' side," Finance Minister Bosse Ringholm said as he met with other European finance ministers in Stresa, Italy.
"It is ... my sense over the last few days and weeks that there's a chance for a 'yes'."
Police said they were making progress in their effort to find the man who stabbed Lindh at an upmarket department store on Wednesday.
But no suspect was in custody three days after the attack that has shocked a country still haunted by the 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme.
Unlike the Palme probe, in which no weapon was recovered, police have the craftman's knife used to kill Lindh and hoped DNA analysis would help them find the suspect, described by witnesses as a 30-year-old stocky, acne-scarred Swede with shoulder-length hair.
Investigators also released pictures from a surveillance camera at Nordiska Kompaniet showing a man police said fit the description.
He was clad in a blue baseball cap and gray hooded sweater, a Nike logo clearly visible, with his sleeves rolled up.
"It could be the perpetrator, it could be a good witness," Jennekvist told reporters in Stockholm.
Police decided to release pictures from the tapes after two tabloids obtained them and published them.
Jennekvist said police were not sure of the man's identity, but had received several tips from people who saw them in the newspapers.
He carefully noted that police were not yet calling the man a suspect.
Forensics experts confirmed that the craftsman's knife found at the scene of Lindh's stabbing was used to kill her, but no fingerprints could be pulled from it.
Investigators will request help from British or German experts with more sophisticated equipment to identify possible DNA on the handle of the red Mora knife, said Olof Egerstedt, head of the National Laboratory of Forensic Science.
Egerstedt said a sweater and a cap recovered near the scene matched those worn by the man on the surveillance tape.
The killing, only blocks away from where Palme was shot dead 17 years ago, served as a grim reminder of the risks embedded in the Scandinavian country's open form of government.
Like Palme, Lindh didn't have any bodyguards when she was attacked.
The murder also stilled the increasingly fiery debate over adopting the euro, as both sides agreed to call off their campaigns, but to go ahead with the referendum.
Some analysts predicted Lindh's death would likely help the "yes" campaign, inspiring sympathy votes.
A Gallup poll confirmed support for the euro was gaining strength, showing the yes side with a narrow lead - 43 per cent to 42 per cent - over nay-sayers.
Another survey, by Temo, showed euro opponents ahead 46 per cent to 40 per cent, while 14 per cent were undecided.
Both surveys polled 1,000 people and had a three per cent margin of error.
Many Swedes have argued that adopting the currency would give the rest of Europe too much control of their cradle-to-grave welfare state. Euro supporters fear Sweden would be sidelined in EU affairs if it votes "no".
Police said there was no evidence the attack was related to the euro referendum.
But Alf Svensson, leader of the Christian Democratic Party and a euro supporter, told AP that he had received several threatening emails and letters because of his stance, including death threats.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Lindh received six letters and emails, 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 said.
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.
©AAP 2003