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Stockholm Truck Attack Kills 4; Terrorism Is Suspected Stockholm Truck Attack Kills 4; Terrorism Is Suspected
(about 2 hours later)
STOCKHOLM — A man drove a stolen beer truck into a crowd of people in a popular shopping district in Stockholm on Friday afternoon and then rammed it into a department store, killing four people and injuring 15 others in an attack that unleashed bloodshed on the streets of another European capital. STOCKHOLM — A man drove a stolen beer truck into a crowd of people in a popular shopping district in Stockholm on Friday afternoon and then rammed it into a department store, killing four people and injuring 15 others in an attack that unleashed bloodshed and panic on the streets of another European capital.
“Sweden has been attacked,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in a statement. “All indications are that it was a terrorist attack.” “Sweden has been attacked,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in a televised news conference. “This indicates that it is an act of terror.”
The police have “caught one person of particular interest,” Jan Evensson, the chief of regional police, said in a news conference Friday evening. A nationwide manhunt conducted through much of the evening ended when the police “caught one person of particular interest,” said Jan Evensson, the chief of regional police.
“He fits the description of the person in the photo we published,” he said, in reference to a photograph released by the police of a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt. “We hope it’s the same guy.” The first emergency call came in around 2:50 p.m. local time as the truck mowed down pedestrians along Drottninggatan, a busy pedestrian shopping street. The truck, stolen just blocks away earlier in the day, came to a stop after slamming into the entrance of the Ahlens department store. Photos from the scene showed a billowing cloud of black smoke rising from the store.
In a late-night news conference, the prime minister said: “Our whole country is in a state of shock. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.” The attack struck the heart of a nation known for its peacefulness and tolerance, and turned a warm spring afternoon into a scene of terror.
Mr. Lofven said control had been tightened on Sweden’s borders, and he praised Swedes for opening their homes to people who were stranded in the city as public transportation was shut down after the attack. “I saw hundreds of people running. They ran for their lives” before the truck crashed into the department store, a witness identified only as Anna told the newspaper Aftonbladet.
“If it’s a terrorist act, the aim is to undermine democracy, but such acts will never succeed in Sweden,” he said. “Our message is clear: You will never ever win.”
The authorities said they did not know whether the episode was an isolated assault or something bigger. The Swedish intelligence agency said “a large number” of people had been injured.
Mats Lofving, the head of the Swedish police’s national operations department, said, “This is now declared a national security event,” adding that officers across the nation were on heightened alert.
The Stockholm police confirmed on Twitter that four people were dead and 15 others wounded.
The Swedish Parliament was on lockdown, according to news reports. Train service had resumed by the evening, but the police, who blocked off the affected area, urged people to stay at home and avoid the city center.
The first emergency call came in around 2:50 p.m. local time as the attack unfolded in Drottninggatan, Stockholm’s busiest shopping street, the police said. Witnesses described a scene of panic and terror.
“I saw hundreds of people running; they ran for their lives” before the truck crashed into the Ahlens department store, a witness identified only as Anna told the newspaper Aftonbladet.
Katarina Libert, 32, a freelance journalist, was trying on clothes at the department store when she heard a boom and the walls shook.Katarina Libert, 32, a freelance journalist, was trying on clothes at the department store when she heard a boom and the walls shook.
At first, she said, she thought the noise was people moving things around the store, but then the fire alarm went off and staff members told her and other shoppers to leave the building. At first, she said, she thought the noise had come from people moving things around the store, but then the fire alarm went off and staff members told shoppers to leave the building.
“We were running, we were crying, everyone was in shock,” Ms. Libert said. “We rushed down the street, and I glanced to the right and saw the truck. People were lying on the ground. They were not moving.” “We were running, we were crying — everyone was in shock,” Ms. Libert said. “We rushed down the street, and I glanced to the right and saw the truck. People were lying on the ground. They were not moving.”
She said that she usually avoided busy areas that could be potential terrorist targets, but that she had decided to take the Friday afternoon off to do some shopping. She said that she usually avoided busy areas that could be potential terrorist targets, but that she had decided to take the afternoon off to do some shopping.
“Some people felt that this was just a matter of time,” she said. “Paris, Brussels, London and now Stockholm. I just had a feeling something like this would happen.”“Some people felt that this was just a matter of time,” she said. “Paris, Brussels, London and now Stockholm. I just had a feeling something like this would happen.”
After the assailant plowed into people, the front of the truck ended up inside the department store. Vehicles have been used to attack people in several episodes in Europe in the past year. The Islamic State revived the idea of using cars as weapons after it broke with Al Qaeda in 2014. In the past year, Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the deaths of more than 100 people in Europe.
A representative of the Spendrups brewery told Radio Sweden that the vehicle had been taken earlier in the day. A spokesman for the company told SVT, a public broadcaster, that the truck had been stolen while the driver was loading it from the rear.
The brewery’s driver told the police that a masked man had stolen the vehicle, and that he had been injured trying to stop him, the authorities said.
The chief medical doctor at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Nelson Follin, told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the hospital was treating “a handful” of people.
“The injuries are quite serious, but for now I cannot give further comments on conditions,” Dr. Follin said.
Previous accounts of shots being fired in other parts of Stockholm were unfounded, the police said, adding that officers across Sweden were protecting high-risk sites.
Fears from the attack reverberated in neighboring Norway, where the police said on Twitter that officers in that nation’s largest cities and at the airport in Oslo would be armed until further notice.
The assault in Stockholm came after several other episodes in Europe in the past year in which a vehicle was used to attack people.
The Islamic State revived the idea of using cars as weapons after it broke with Al Qaeda in 2014. In the past year, Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the deaths of more than 100 people in Europe.
In France, a man drove into a crowd on a busy seaside promenade during Bastille Day celebrations in Nice. Another attacker plowed a truck into shoppers at a Christmas market in Berlin. And last month, an assailant drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near Parliament in London.In France, a man drove into a crowd on a busy seaside promenade during Bastille Day celebrations in Nice. Another attacker plowed a truck into shoppers at a Christmas market in Berlin. And last month, an assailant drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near Parliament in London.
Other attempts, including an episode in which a man tried to drive over pedestrians in Antwerp, Belgium, claimed no victims but have contributed to a sense of dread across the Continent. The attacks in France, Germany and Britain were seen by some as retaliation for those countries’ participation in wars in the Middle East. But Sweden, a NATO member, is not involved in any military confrontations abroad.
Although some Swedes have expressed concern that immigration has led to a crime wave in the country — and President Trump seemed to suggest in a speech on Feb. 18 that there had been an attack in Sweden, when in fact nothing had occurred — the country and the region remain largely peaceful and safe. The country contributes only 35 soldiers to the American-led coalition battling the Islamic State; they serve only as trainers in northern Iraq and are not involved in combat. In Afghanistan, 50 Swedish soldiers are serving mainly as advisers, according to the Swedish Defense Ministry’s website.
The most notable exception came in 2010, when an assailant killed himself and wounded two others after detonating two bombs in central Stockholm, on a side street not far from where the attack on Friday took place. Nevertheless, the country has been a target of previous terrorist attacks. In December 2010, the same street, Drottninggatan, was the site of the first suicide bombing in the country. An Iraqi-born Swedish citizen, carrying several pipe bombs, detonated an explosive device but killed only himself.
The attack in 2010 was said to be the first suicide bombing in Scandinavia, and it caused consternation in Sweden. It was linked to an Iraqi-born Swede who had attended college in Britain. In February, President Trump suggested that Sweden’s tolerance of immigrants would lead to an extremist attack similar to those that had befallen France and Belgium.
On Friday, the police said they were well trained for these types of episodes. “Last week we rehearsed a similar scenario,” said Anders Thornberg, the chief of national intelligence. Moments after the attack on Friday, Sweden’s Parliament was placed on lockdown, trains were canceled and the police, who blocked off the affected area, urged people to stay at home and avoid the city center.
In his late-night address, Prime Minister Lofven vowed that the country’s progressive values would triumph over terrorism.
“If it’s a terrorist act, the aim is to undermine democracy, but such acts will never succeed in Sweden,” he said. “Our message is clear: You will never, ever win.”
The authorities said they did not know whether the episode was an isolated assault or something bigger. Mr. Lofven said controls at Sweden’s borders had been tightened.
Fears from the attack reverberated in neighboring Norway, where the police said on Twitter that officers in the nation’s largest cities and at the airport in Oslo would be armed until further notice.
The chief medical doctor at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Nelson Follin, told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the hospital was treating “a handful” of people.
“The injuries are quite serious, but for now, I cannot give further comments on conditions,” Dr. Follin said.
The attack took place just as Swedes were preparing for fredagsmys, or cozy Friday, the unofficial start to the weekend: a time typically spent at home with friends or family.
“We were walking, and we saw all these police vehicles and helicopters in the air,” said Ingrid Falk, 46, a music teacher who had been preparing to conduct a children’s choir just steps from where the attack took place. “We realized something had happened. We saw people running, and everybody was making calls and wondering what had happened.”
The concert was ultimately canceled, Ms. Falk said. The church in which it was to be held was surrounded by the police.
The theme of the concert: “Your life is a gift. Be careful with it.”