A senior member of the Swedish government died today from stab wounds sustained when she was attacked by a man in a Stockholm department store.
Anna Lindh, the country's foreign minister, was operated on at Karolinska hospital for most of last night following the attack, which happened yesterday afternoon.
The 46-year-old suffered severe internal bleeding and liver and stomach injuries after being stabbed in the chest, stomach and arms, doctors said.
Police sources had initially indicated that her wounds were not "life-threatening". However, in the early hours of today, after Ms Lindh had been on the operating table for eight hours, doctors described her condition as critical.
Police, who are still hunting the attacker, said there were no clues about his motives. He stabbed Ms Lindh several times before escaping unchallenged.
Officers from across Sweden were rushed to Stockholm to help in the search. Officials would not say whether the foreign minister had received any threats.
Police said they were looking for a man around 6ft tall. They found his army jacket, cap and knife, and were analysing video footage from the shop's security cameras.
The stabbing has shocked the relatively crime-free country, whose politicians, with the exception of the prime minister, generally walk around without bodyguards.
The incident echoes the unsolved 1986 murder of prime minister Olof Palme. Mr Palme was shot dead on his way home from a cinema only a few blocks away from where Ms Lindh was stabbed.
"The attack on her is an attack on our open society," the Swedish prime minister, Goran Persson, said.
Late yesterday, Mr Persson told a news conference that he had ordered increased security for King Carl XVI Gustaf, leading politicians and major government buildings.
Ms Lindh, who was married with two children, became foreign minister in 1998 after a stellar career in the Social Democratic party, which has ruled Sweden for six of the last seven decades.
One of the country's most popular and respected politicians, she has been campaigning for the country to join the euro. Opponents of membership of the EU's common currency have led opinion polls on the issue since April.
Leaders of the main parties were to meet later to decide whether to go ahead with Sunday's key referendum on Swedish membership of the currency.
In Britain, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, paid tribute to his counterpart, whom he described as a close friend who represented everything that was "wonderful" about Sweden and Europe.
"It is a terrible tragedy, and I convey our shock and our condolences to her family and her friends", Mr Straw said.
"I wanted first, on behalf of the British government, to express our condolences to her husband Bo, her children, her wider family and friends and to the people of Sweden.
"I also wanted to say something more personal, because Anna was a good friend of mine.
"She had this extraordinary ability to balance the demands of one of the most active of Europe's foreign ministers in her role as one of Sweden's leading politicians, and those of someone who was completely committed to her family."