- Title: SWEDEN: Prosecutor says Stockholm bomber aimed for major targets
- Date: 14th December 2010
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (DECEMBER 13, 2010) (REUTERS) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** VARIOUS OF POLICE NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF PROSECUTOR FOR SECURITY ISSUES, TOMAS LINDSTRAND, SAYING: "Yes we have, we think we have the identity up to 98 per cent. There hasn't been a formal identification yet - not by DNA or by his parents or some other person who is very
- Embargoed: 29th December 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Sweden, Sweden
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA42S6EAL2TA63O1B6WYX52HAL7
- Story Text: A Middle East-born man who died in a blast in Stockholm was wearing an explosives belt and likely intended to attack a crowded train station or department store when the device went off prematurely, an official said on Monday (December 13).
Sweden's chief prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand told a news conference the man had been "98 per cent identified," and replied "yes" when asked if it was Taymour Abdulwahab, who has been widely named in media reports.
He said Abdulwahab, born in 1981, became a Swedish citizen in 1992 and came from a Middle Eastern country. He had lived in Sweden and spent time in Britain. Media reports said Abdulwahab came from Iraq.
"A brief description of this man is that he was born in 1981, he is from the Middle East but at the moment it is a bit unclear from which country or countries in the Middle East he comes from. He became a Swedish citizen in 1992 and has lived in Sweden for a number of years. He has also lived in England for a number of years," Lindstrand said.
Lindstrand said the man had been well equipped with explosives, including the belt, and that if it had all exploded at the same time it could have caused very serious damage.
"He was wearing a bomb-belt and a backpack with a bomb and he was also carrying an object looking like pressure cooker," Lindstrand said.
Lindstrand said police assumed the man was on his way to a more crowded place and that something had gone wrong.
A car containing gas canisters blew up in a busy shopping area on Saturday afternoon (December 11) followed minutes later by a blast nearby which killed the bomber and injured two people.
"We don't know where he was headed. It's plausible to assume that he has made some mistakes, causing a detonation of some of the bombs which killed him," he said.
"The speculation is that he was on his way to a crowded place. We don't know that but it was during the Christmas shopping season, he was in central Stockholm and was very well equipped when it comes to bomb materials so it's not a wild guess that he was on his way to a place with as many people as possible - perhaps the central station, perhaps (department store) Ahlens," he added.
Lindstrand also said he assumed the man had accomplices as the attack was well planned.
The Stockholm incident began when a car burst into flames near an area busy with Christmas shoppers in the centre of town, followed by explosions inside the car caused by gas canisters.
The second explosion was about 300 metres (yards) away and 10-15 minutes later, killing Abdulwahab and wounding two people.
Shortly before the blasts, Swedish news agency TT received a threatening letter criticising Sweden's troops in Afghanistan, caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad drawn by a Swedish artist which spoke of a Middle East trip for "jihad". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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