Bomb threats and text messages spark panic in Finland

"The text messages are threatening in nature and are causing fear and hysteria among young people, and we must stop them," police spokesman Urpo Lintula said.

He declined to give details on the content of messages, but said Finland saw a similar wave of threats after the previous school shooting at Jokela high school near Helsinki last year.

Finnish media said several schools across the nation had received bomb threats, and that one school had been evacuated.

Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero told Finnish MTV3 that Finland could face more copycat school shootings. "I badly fear it's possible," he said.

Investigators said they were probing possible links between the Kauhajoki gunman, Matti Saari, 22, and 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who fatally shot eight people and himself at a high school in southern Finland in November.

In Sweden, police raided the teen's home in Koping, central Sweden, after seeing the YouTube clip, according to police spokesman Borje Stromberg. He couldn't immediately confirm the contents of the clip. The boy was arrested for illegal weapon possession.

In a message Thursday on its Web site, Swedish police urged people to report any Internet postings that could be seen as "warning signals of planned crimes."

Finnish investigators said Auvinen and Saari likely bought their guns at the same place and could even have been in contact with each other.

"The cases were similar. They were the same type of person, so it could be possible," investigation leader Jari Neulaniemi told The Associated Press. "They had the same style of hair, same kind of clothing, same interests and ideals — and their deeds were the same."