SWEDEN: Police say the have a good idea of the identity of the man killed in "terror" blast in Stockholm

Record ID: 359130

  • Title: SWEDEN: Police say the have a good idea of the identity of the man killed in "terror" blast in Stockholm
  • Date: 13th December 2010
  • Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (DECEMBER 12, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF POLICE BUILDING SWEDISH FLAG VARIOUS OF SIGN READING IN SWEDISH "STOCKHOLM POLICE DISTRICT" DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT SWEDISH SECURITY POLICE, ANDERS THORNBERG, BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT SWEDISH SECURITY POLICE, ANDERS THORNBERG, SAYING: "As far as we know it looks lik
  • Embargoed: 28th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sweden, Sweden
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA6MQN672V0KFOMZ3E7F75R7A8T
  • Story Text: Swedish police investigating two blasts that rocked central Stockholm on Saturday, killing one person and wounding two, said on Sunday (December 12) they had good leads into what they said were "terror crimes".
    Anders Thornberg, director of operations at the Security Police that is running the investigation, said police could neither confirm that the man who died was a suicide bomber nor discuss his identity, as some family members had not yet been informed.
    He said the police was looking into whether he had been working alone.
    "As far as we know it looks like he has been working for himself but we don't know, we have to make that really sure. So we are investigating whether there could be more perpetrators. We don't know," Thornberg said.
    He also said police had collected a lot of information about the man.
    "We have a good picture about this man now. We have been working very hard the whole night so we have a good picture," Thornberg said.
    Thornberg said the threat level had not been raised because it had already been raised in October.
    "We raised the threat level on October 1 from low to more extent (increase) and that was another reason. This is the first time a thing like this has happened, if it's a suicide bomber, it's the first time it's happened in Sweden so this is very serious if that's the case," Thornberg said.
    The incident began when a car burst into flames near a busy shopping street in the city centre, followed by explosions inside the car which police said were caused by gas canisters.
    The second explosion, about 300 metres (yards) away and 10 to 15 minutes later, killed one man and wounded two people.
    Police vans cordoned off several streets around the body and towed away the car. The rest of the city centre was calm.
    The Aftonbladet newspaper quoted a source as saying the man was carrying six pipebombs, of which only one exploded, and a rucksack full of nails and suspected explosive material.
    Thornberg said police would increase its presence in the Swedish capital as a result.
    "The Stockholm police is responsible for Stockholm town and there you will see a lot more presence from police, uniformed police today," he said.
    Swedish media reported that some shop staff had not dared to come to work but otherwise Christmas shopping went on as usual.
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