Fatalities following truck crash 'terror attack' in Stockholm

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has said everything indicates that the Stockholm truck crash is "a terror attack''.

Published 7th Apr 2017
Last updated 7th Apr 2017

At least five people are dead and many more injured after a terror attack which saw a hijacked lorry plough into pedestrians in Stockholm.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said it appeared the crash was "a terror attack'' and the country's intelligence service said there was "a large number of injured''.

Mr Lofven said a suspect had been arrested in connection with the attack.

Blood stains were visible on the streets along with bodies covered in blankets in the aftermath of the incident.

Paramedics could also be seen tending to the injured near the lorry, which was embedded in the corner of a shopping mall with its cab burning.

The incident was in Drottninggatan, a street in a busy shopping district in the centre of the Swedish capital.

The attack comes after trucks were used in terror attacks in Nice and Berlin last year and just two weeks after Muslim convert Khalid Masood ploughed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London.

Newspaper Aftonbladet quoted a witness saying they saw hundreds of people running for their lives near the Ahlens mall.

Another witness told the newspaper that the out-of-control truck ran over at least two people.

Pictures on social media showed the lorry had crashed into the corner of Mall with its cab on fire.

Pools of blood were visible on the street along with bodies covered in blankets.

Paramedics could also be seen tending to the injured near the truck.

Jan Granroth told Aftonbladet: "We stood inside a shoe store and heard something... and then people started to scream.

"I looked out of the store and saw a big truck.''

An Aftonbladet reporter on the scene said police suspected the crash was terror related.

The crash is close to the scene of a terror attack in 2010 when Taimour Abdulwahab, a Swedish citizen who lived in Luton, blew himself up.

The terrorist, who police concluded acted alone, died on December 11 2010 in the Bryggargatan area. No-one else was killed.

Abdulwahab rigged an Audi car with explosives in the hope that the blast would drive people to Drottninggatan, a busy shopping street, where he was waiting to set off two more devices strapped to his chest and back.

The car bomb never went off and, after setting fire to the Audi, he was unable to detonate the other two explosives as planned.

He made his way down a side street off Drottninggatan and, in an apparent attempt to fix the faulty trigger up his sleeve, set off the bomb on the front of his body, killing only himself.