SWEDEN: Residents of Tranas, the town where Sweden's first suicide bomber was brought up are shocked to hear of the news

Record ID: 356260

  • Title: SWEDEN: Residents of Tranas, the town where Sweden's first suicide bomber was brought up are shocked to hear of the news
  • Date: 15th December 2010
  • Summary: TRANAS, SWEDEN (DECEMBER 14, 2010) (REUTERS) SIGN READING 'WELCOME TO TRANAS' WIDE OF STREET/ APARTMENT BUILDING WHERE TAIMOUR ABDULWAHAB'S PARENTS LIVE VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF HOUSE WIDE OF HOLAVEDS HIGH-SCHOOL WHERE ABDULWAHAB USED TO STUDY PUPILS WALKING INTO BUILDING CLOCK SCHOOL PRINCIPAL ELISABETH AMAN BY HER DESK AMAN WRITING (SOUNDBITE) (Swedish) SCHOOL PRIN
  • Embargoed: 30th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sweden, Sweden
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA2K0SNPC3DJRK2IP6G984DTCSM
  • Story Text: Residents of Tranas, the Swedish town where Taimour Abdulwahab, the man now named as Sweden's first suicide bomber, was brought up are shocked to hear of the news.
    Abdulwahab's suicide attack on Saturday (December 11), which caused his death and injured two others, is hard for Tranas's residents to grasp.
    The picture of Abdulwahab drawn by some of the residents in the small town of Tranas, where he lived for a decade after moving to Sweden as a boy, bore little resemblance to that of a militant fighter.
    Elisabeth Aman, a principal at a school where his parents and sister studied Swedish when they moved to Tranas said that upon hearing the news last Sunday it had been a "total surprise".
    "Totally. Everyone has in some way had a relationship with them. We had a relationship with them because many of us know the parents as respectable, calm, good citizens. Others have children who have perhaps been class-mates with this man or his siblings and it's unbelievable - nobody understands this," she said.
    Abdulwahab came to Tranas, about 200 km (120 miles) southwest of Stockholm, in 1992 around the age of 11. After graduating, he set off for England and studied at Bedfordshire University in Luton to become a sports therapist.
    Most remembered Abdulwahab as a good-looking teenager who played basketball, had plenty of friends and was integrated into Swedish society.
    "He's the same age as my children and they went to school together and nobody could have imagined this. When one has called people and told them about it people have said 'it can't be possible. There has to be a mistake. It can't be him'," said Aman, whose daughters had gone to school with Abdulwahab.
    Abdulwahab's 16-year-old sister also attends the same school, but classmates said they had not seen her on Monday.
    Tranas, with about 18,000 residents, is one of many towns in Sweden that experienced a wave of immigration. Sweden's relatively open immigration policies made it a prime destination for many people from war-torn countries, though integration has not always been easy.
    Abdulwahab's mother, a specialist in Arabic literature, often helped out at his high school library. His father trained as an engineer, but had to pick up work in a store selling vegetables and overseas delicacies.
    Aman said there was a risk for "collective guilt" in the way others look at the town's muslims and she said she had already seen some signs.
    "Some have said that their children haven't dared to go to school or that they haven't dared to let the children go to school because they've been scared, thinking: 'How will the people of Tranas look at us now. Will they look at us differently today?" she said.
    Abdulwahab is thought to be the author of a threatening letter sent to a Swedish news agency shortly before the attack.
    In the note, he vowed revenge for Sweden's troop presence in Afghanistan and its defence of Lars Vilks, an artist who sparked anger in 2007 with his drawings of the Prophet Mohammad.
    "I don't believe for a second that his would have happened if he didn't get contacts abroad. This is nothing that grows in Tranas, that hides in the buses or behind the houses in Tranas. These are influences from somewhere else," Aman said.
    The town looks much like any other comfortable Swedish town, with a picturesque river running through it. Now it is now trying to come to grips with what has happened.
    Anette Frid said she couldn't quite understand it all and that her thoughts went out to Abdulwahab's family
    "I feel sorry for them. They must be having a horrible time. There could be some bullying, one never knows," said Anette Frid.
    Students Julia Millestad and Emma Davidsson also said it was was unbelievable that such a thing could happen in Sweden and that it was quite frightening.
    "It's very frightening but I feel I can't get to agitated because I'm so good at scaring myself so I take it easy," said Millestad.
    "Tranas is such a small time so everyone gets scared. It's very uncommon here, and in Sweden," Davidsson said.
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