SWEDEN: Investigations continue into Stockholm suicide bomb blasts as Swedes seek to understand the attacks

Record ID: 356127

  • Title: SWEDEN: Investigations continue into Stockholm suicide bomb blasts as Swedes seek to understand the attacks
  • Date: 15th December 2010
  • Summary: NEWSPAPER HEADLINE
  • Embargoed: 30th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sweden, Sweden
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA9IWU83QY1C64LA3ZTBYYIWT6Q
  • Story Text: The investigation continued on Tuesday (December 14) in to the bomb attack on Stockholm at the weekend in which Iraqi-born Taymour Abdulwahab was killed when one of several explosive devices he was carrying went off prematurely.
    A team from the United States (U.S.) Federal Bureau of Investigation was helping Swedish police and its participation in the investigation underlines a growing conviction that Iraqi-born Taymour Abdulwahab had accomplices in the Saturday (December 11) attack.
    Abdulwahab was killed when one of several explosive devices he was carrying went off prematurely, avoiding what police think was a much more destructive and deadly blasts.
    Sweden has a large Muslim population and many are worried that the attacks will adversely affect integration. Swedish media has reported that men with an immigrant background have experienced "funny looks" when on the tube carrying large bags.
    Abdallah Salah who is the vice chairman of the Islamic Association of Stockholm said he was shocked when he heard the news.
    "Just as for all Swedish citizens, one is shocked and finds it very hard to believe that this has happened here and now in Sweden. But I still I think most representatives for Muslim organisations find it very hard to concentrate on anything else," he said.
    Abdulwahab grew up in the town of Tranas, about 200 km (120 miles) southwest of Stockholm, but apparently became more radical after moving to study and live in Britain.
    Salah said that he had never heard of Abdulwahab or even the town of Tranas before Saturday.
    "Never, not even this town where he lived I had never heard of it before and even now I can't remember it even though I have heard it many times. I tried to find out if there is an association there who knows of him but nobody knows him. That's what makes the whole thing more complicated - that he is not known," he said.
    Salah said that when life went back to normal again, it was very important to maintain a dialogue between the authorities and Muslim community and that knowledge about Islam was of utmost importance.
    "The most important thing is to separate between Islam and Muslims and Muslims and Muslims. Anyone can say they're are a Muslim but not everyone does what Islam says," he said.
    Since the attack, police in Stockholm has stepped up their presence in the centre as Christmas shopping continues unabated.
    A large number of officers were patrolling one of Stockholm's main shopping streets - Drottninggatan - which is close to where Abdulwahab died when a device in the bomb belt he was carrying went off prematurely.
    Magnus Ranstorp, Research Director at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defence College said Sweden's tranquil image had been shattered.
    "On the surface it's probably one of the most unlikely countries, in fact (Al Qaeda chief Osama) Bin Laden said right after 9/11 that if all countries were like Sweden there woudn't be any attacks. I think that kind of immunity has now been shattered. I think that because it has been targetted, this tranquility has gone and I think that it's something that the Swedish public and the Swedish government will have to live with," he said.
    But he also thinks the reaction would have been very different had there been casualties.
    "I think it would have changed if there were civilian casualties. It was only the suicide bomber himself who died so this could have been much worse. The debate and the tone of the debate would have probably been different and things would have changed. We were lucky in that sense. But I think yes, to some extent it has changed, there has been an attack but I think we will go back to normal pretty soon," he said.
    Security experts also think it is possible the bomber had help, either in the publicising of his act or its planning.
    They pointed to information posted online about the man, including messages by an admirer who has threatened more such attacks if Western troops do not withdraw from Afghanistan.
    Ranstorp said such accomplices would probably not be found in Sweden.
    "I would say that it's a home-grown UK (United Kingdom) issue because he spent so much time in the UK and I think that in that sense it's more interesting to look at what sort of connections did he have in the UK rather than in Sweden. I don't see that there is any sort of reason to think that there is any connections here. The security services have said that he acted alone, however individuals exerting influence on him may exist and they're most likely to be outside the country," he said.
    Since Saturday's blast, investigators have been looking for clues in the southern British town of Luton, where Abdulwahab lived with his wife and children, in Tranas, where he grew up and an apartment in the Stockholm suburb of Hasselby, where his wife's family reportedly live.
    According to a neighbour police had carried out a raid on Sunday morning.
    Reuters could not confirm whether the apartment belonged to Abdulwahab's wife's family.
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