Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh has been stabbed in the chest, stomach and arms by an unidentified assailant in Stockholm and is undergoing surgery, according to police.
Her wounds were not life-threatening, police added.
Lindh, 46, an active campaigner for Sweden to join the euro ahead of a referendum on Sunday, was shopping in the upmarket NK store when she was attacked.
"She has stab wounds in the chest, stomach and arms and is being operated on now, but the wounds are not life-threatening," police spokeswoman Stina Wessling announced todat.
Police were seeking a tall man wearing an army jacket who was suspected of carrying out the attack.
A popular member of the ruling Social Democratic government, Lindh has been tipped as a successor to Prime Minister Goran Persson.
Persson, attending a pro-euro rally in the city of Karlstadt, was said by an aide to be shocked to hear of Lindh's attack and returned immediately to Stockholm.
Politicians and public figures in Sweden, a country with a traditionally low violent crime rate, move about with minimum security compared to other European nations.
But in 1986 the nation was traumatised by the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme who was shot on his way home from the movies. His attacker has never been caught.
"For the Swedish people it brings back all the old horrible memories of Olf 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."
Lindh was appointed foreign minister in 1998 after a stellar career in the Social Democratic party which has ruled Sweden for six of the last seven decades. She is married to an ex-minister and has two children.