Four people are dead and 15 injured after a truck rammed into pedestrians Friday on a popular shopping street in a terrorist attack in downtown Stockholm.
One person was arrested and two others brought in for questioning, Swedish police said. They also released a photo to the public of a man they suspect is connected to the attack and are asking for anyone to help in identifying him.
“Sweden has been attacked,” Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said in a statement. “All indications are that it was a terrorist attack. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and those injured. The Government is being kept up to date and is doing everything it can to assist the relevant authorities in their work. I encourage everyone to be vigilant and to pay attention to the information from the police.”
About 3 p.m. local time, a large beer truck crashed into the Åhlens department store on Drottninggatan street, a popular pedestrian shopping center.
Witnesses told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that they fled the scene into nearby stores.
“The lorry just drove, full speed ahead, down Drottninggatan hitting people. … We had to throw ourselves into an H&M store, and then the lorry hit Åhléns,” Durde, one witness, is quoted as saying.
Photos show the truck on fire and smoking through the front of the large store. Scores of people are seen fleeing the scene in one video, and photos of the aftermath show the pavement streaked with bloodstains.
Swedish security police said the Swedish brewery Spendrups reported a truck stolen in central Stockholm shortly before the attack, Aftonbladet reported.
Truck ramming attacks are popular modes of “lone-wolf terrorism,” acts inspired by global Islamic terrorism but not always directed by or linked to a particular group.
It’s not clear if the terrorist group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, although Sweden is part of a coalition of nations helping Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi army battle Islamic State.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for attacks in London, Berlin and Nice that all involved a car or truck ramming.
A little over two weeks ago, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, later claimed responsibility for a car-ramming attack in London. Five people were killed and 40 injured when a terrorist slammed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.
The fifth victim, Andreea Cristea, 31, from Romania, died Friday after being removed from life support, BBC News reported. She had fallen into the Thames River during the attack.
Twelve people were killed when a terrorist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin.
In July, 89 people were killed in Nice when a truck driver mowed revelers down on the promenade.
In the Middle East, Palestinians have killed numerous Israelis over several years with car and truck rammings, with Hamas in the Gaza Strip either celebrating or claiming responsibility for the attacks.
Sweden has not been immune to the rise in attacks plaguing Europe over the past few years.
In June, 20-year-old Aydin Sevigin was sentenced to five years in prison for plotting a terrorist attack in Sweden. He was believed to have been radicalized by the Islamic State, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reported.
In 2015, a Swedish national killed a student and teacher at a school, in an attack police categorized as a hate crime and racially motivated.
In Stockholm in 2010, a suicide bomber killed one and injured two after detonating a car bomb. The bomber, who was a British-educated Iraqi national, had sent an email to local media and police threatening the attack, citing Sweden’s involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Laura Kelly can be reached at lkelly@washingtontimes.com.
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