Stockholm Truck 'Terror Attack' Kills Four And Injures 15

Police issued a picture of the suspect.
|

Four people died and 15 were injured when a lorry drove into a crowd of people in a Stockholm street, in what the country’s prime minister said was a terror attack.

The vehicle rammed into the crowd on Drottninggatan - a pedestrianised shopping area, prompting people to flee in panic, at around 2.55pm local time on Friday.

Nine of those injured were seriously hurt, emergency services said.

Police confirmed the death toll as it was announced an arrest had been made after a manhunt in the wake of the attack. Earlier they issued photos of a man they were seeking.

Open Image Modal
TT News Agency / Reuters
Open Image Modal
Police issued these two images of the man they were seeking
TT News Agency / Reuters
Open Image Modal
Emergency services work at the scene
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND via Getty Images

“Sweden has been attacked,” Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said just after the attack. “Everything points to a terrorist attack.”

Leif Arnmar, a witness working in the shopping centre told Swedish national broadcaster SVT: “There is total confusion, I do not know how many are injured - many people are totally shocked.”

Swedish paper Aftonbladet quoted another witness in the department store saying she saw “hundreds of people” running for their lives.

A third witness, Jan Granroth, told the paper: “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.”

Police said earlier they were interviewing two people in connection with the incident.

The city was on lockdown and Stockholm Central Station was evacuated.

Brewery company Spendrups has since claimed the truck belongs to them, and was hijacked earlier in the day. 

“It’s one of our distribution vehicles which runs deliveries,” the firm’s communications director Mårten Lyth told the TT agency.

“During a delivery to the restaurant Caliente someone jumped into the driver’s cabin and drove off with the car, while the driver unloads.”

The metro was also suspended.

Officers were filmed at the original track crush scene spraying foam on the vehicle, possibly to prevent it catching fire.

The Foreign Office updated its travel advice to Britons in or travelling to Sweden to say:

“There are reports that incidents have occurred in Drottninggatan and Fridhemsplan in central Stockholm. You should stay away from public areas if possible and follow the advice of local authorities.”

Open Image Modal
Sweden's police officers stand guard in central Stockholm
Reuters Staff / Reuters
Open Image Modal
Paramedics attend to one of those injured by the truck
TT News Agency / Reuters
Open Image Modal
Police officers wear gas masks as they stand guard near the shopping centre
TT News Agency / Reuters

Friday’s incident is near the site of a December 2010 attack in which Taimour Abdulwahab, a Swedish citizen who lived in Britain, detonated a suicide bomb, killing himself and injuring two others, the Associated Press reported.

Pedestrians were also killed and injured by a vehicle rampage in London recently.

Khalid Masood mowed down scores of people on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a police officer at the gates of Parliament.