Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was stabbed in the chest, stomach and arms by an unidentified man while shopping in Stockholm yesterday and was undergoing surgery.

Police said her wounds were not life-threatening and she was conscious when carried into an ambulance on a stretcher. But almost two hours after the attack she was still on the operating table at Stockholm's Karolinska hospital, her spokesman said.

Tipped as a future prime minister, 46-year-old Ms Lindh is an active campaigner for Sweden to join the euro in a referendum on Sunday. She was shopping in the upmarket NK store when attacked.

Police said they were seeking a 1.8-metre man in an army jacket suspected of carrying out the attack. One local television channel described him as "Swedish looking" and said witnesses saw him throw away a knife near the department store.

There were no clues to a motive and officials would not say whether Ms Lindh had received any threats.

It was a shock to the relatively crime-free Nordic nation whose politicians walk around without bodyguards, except for Prime Minister Goran Persson, who has two in plainclothes.

In 1986 the nation was traumatised by the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme who was shot on his way home from the movies, a few blocks from where Ms Lindh was stabbed. His attacker was never caught.

"The attack on her is an attack on our open society," said Mr Persson, who told a news conference he had urgently ordered that security around King Carl XVI Gustaf, top politicians and major government buildings be cranked up.

In many smaller northern European states security for public figures is minimal, as was apparent in the Netherlands last year when the populist Pim Fortuyn was shot dead in broad daylight. He took few precautions despite having received death threats.

"For the Swedish people it brings back all the old horrible memories of Olof Palme. It might mean Swedish politicians need security guards everywhere they go from now on," said Green Party leader Peter Eriksson. "I sincerely hope it doesn't lead to that."