IS claims Siberia stabbings, but Russia skeptical

Islamic State says attacker who wounded 7 is one of its fighters, but officials say he was a local resident

MOSCOW (AP) — A knife-wielding man went on a stabbing rampage Saturday in a Siberian city, wounding seven people before police shot and killed him.

The Islamic State’s Aamaq news agency hours later claimed the attacker was “an Islamic State soldier.”

However, an earlier statement from from Russia’s Investigative Committee said the mid-day attack on a central street in Surgut identified the suspect as a resident in his early 20s. It said information was being sought on his psychiatric condition, suggesting authorities did not suspect terrorism as the likely motive.

The statement gave the number of victims at seven, down from an earlier tally of eight.

Four of the wounded were in serious condition, the state news agency Tass reported, citing regional health official Vladislav Nigmatulin.