On Friday morning, police cordoned off an area in the Pasila district after a home-made device was discovered. Early Saturday, a petrol bomb was thrown into the yard of an unmanned service station in the Tapaninvainio area of the city.
The group said online that it hoped fresh attacks would succeed.
The Finnish Security Police (SUPO) says it is taking the matter seriously but does not wish to speculate at this stage.
SUPO’s Director of Communications, Liinu Lehto-Seljavaara, told YLE that responsibility for investigating the incident lies with police, where Helsinki Police headquarters is located. However, SUPO would give its expert assistance if a terrorist link was uncovered.
“Naturally we are employing our own channels. Previously we have not had such threats to civilian targets,” she noted. No-one was apparently injured in either incident.
Incident Proclaimed in Arabic and Finnish
The internet message on the incidents was signed by Abu Sulaiman al-Nasser, who is considered to be one of the most followed al-Qaeda bloggers internationally. The same name was attached to a recent online threat made against Finnish peacekeepers in Afghanistan.
Noted US terrorism researcher Evan Kohlmann, author of Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe, published the following translation of the message on his Twitter feed IntelTweet: "On Friday, a homemade bomb was found in the capital of Finland Helsinki... We ask Allah that the next bomb is successful." Kohlmann says the message was "another apparent terror threat to Finland, written in both Arabic and Finnish."
Inspector Kari Martikainen of the Pasila police department says he has no information to suggest the crimes were linked to extremists. He added the police will endeavour to ascertain what happened by means of surveillance camera pictures and public help.
Device Discovered in Residential Area
Last Friday police received a tip-off from a passerby about a suspicious-looking canister in the area. The device was found in an inner courtyard in Esterinportti, which houses a grocery and the Esteri restaurant.
On duty Lieutenant Heikki Kallio said it soon became apparent that there was no danger of an immediate explosion, so the police cordon was quickly lifted.
Lead investigator Markku Steinberg said the device was clearly a bomb; however he was not able to disclose further details.
At the time Steinberg added that police would look more closely at the trigger mechanism and whether the device would have caused an explosion or a fire.
The case is being investigated as attempted sabotage. No suspects have been detained.