Swedes prepare to vote as police seek assassin

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Unable to pull fingerprints from the murder weapon, police combed for DNA evidence Saturday in the brutal killing of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh and released pictures of a possible suspect.

Meanwhile, polls indicated that Lindh's slaying could swing some Swedes to vote "yes" in a crucial referendum today on adopting the euro. Opposition to the common currency has been strong, but the "yes" side has surged since the stabbing death of Lindh, an ardent euro supporter, and new polls suggested a close finish.

Lindh, 46, was No. 3 in the Swedish government and often mentioned as a possible prime minister candidate. She was stabbed in her chest, abdomen and arms Wednesday at a downtown Stockholm department store. She died early Thursday.

On Saturday, police said they were making progress in their effort to find the man who killed Lindh. But no suspect was in custody three days after the attack 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 knife used to kill Lindh. But Olof Egerstedt, director of the National Laboratory of Forensic Science, said fingerprints could not be pulled from the knife because of its ribbed, plastic handle.

So authorities will ask British or German forensics experts to analyze the minute amount of DNA on the murder weapon. Egerstedt said they may also extract DNA from a sweater and a cap recovered near the scene that matched those worn by the man on the tape. They hoped the DNA analysis would help them find the suspect, described by witnesses as a 30-year-old, stocky, acne-scarred Swede with shoulder-length hair.

Also Saturday, investigators released pictures from a surveillance camera at the Nordiska Kompaniet department store showing a man police said fit the suspect's description. He was clad in a blue baseball cap and gray hooded Nike sweater with his sleeves rolled up.

Police decided to release pictures from the tapes after two tabloids published them Saturday. Police spokesman Leif Jennekvist said police were not calling the man a suspect because they are not sure of his identity yet.

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