Truck attack kills 4 in Stockholm
Swedish prime minster calls event ‘act of terror’
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 televised news conference. “This indicates that it is an act of terror.”
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.
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.
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 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,” 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.”
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-Qaida in 2014.
In the past year, Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the deaths of more than 100 people in Europe.
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.
The country contributes only 35 soldiers to the U.S.-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.
Moments after the attack 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, 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.”
Lofven also said controls at Sweden’s borders had been tightened.
The attack took place just as Swedes were preparing for fredagsmys, or cozy Friday, the unofficial start to the weekend.