One person is dead and three were injured following a series of stabbings in the Maldives capital Male’ last night.

A 21 year-old man, identified as Abdul Muheeth of G. Veyru, was rushed to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) after he was stabbed at 1:45am near the Finance Ministry building. He later died during treatment.

A second victim, a 43 year-old man, was also attacked at 1:45am by two men on a motorcycle.

A 17 year-old man was also seriously injured after he was stabbed at 7:40pm, and is being treated in IGMH.

The fourth stabbing victim was a Sri Lankan man who was also attacked by two men on a motorcycle.

“Police are trying to find out how this happened,” said Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam.

“There have been no serious stabbings for a long time and all of a sudden this happened in one night. We are trying to determine the motive behind it.”

A spate of stabbings in early 2011 that resulted in the deaths of several young men were blamed by police on gang related activity. Following a police crackdown, relatively few violent attacks were reported for the remainder of the year.

Shiyam said it was too early for police to determine if last night’s stabbings were gang related, or connected to the ongoing political turmoil in the country.

No arrests have been made so far, although police have seized a motorcycle in connection with the investigation, reports local media.