Three die in Swedish truck attack

STOCKHOLM: A truck drove into a crowd on a busy street and crashed into a department store in the Swedish capital, killing three people and injuring eight in what the prime minister said appeared to be a terrorist attack.

Part of central Stockholm was cordoned off yesterday and the area was evacuated, including the main train station.

All subway traffic was halted on orders from the police.

“We were standing by the traffic lights at Drottninggatan (Queen Street) and then we heard some screaming and saw a truck coming,” a witness said.

“Then it drove into a pillar at Ahlens City (department store) where the hood started burning. When it stopped we saw a man lying under the tyre.

“It was terrible to see,” said the man, who saw the incident from inside his car.

“Sweden has been attacked. Everything points to the fact that this is a terrorist attack,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said.

Radio Sweden reporter Martin Svenningsen said he saw three dead people “but probably more”.

A Reuters witness saw a number of body-like forms covered by blankets at the scene. Police confirmed three deaths and eight people injured. Many police and emergency services personnel were at the scene, a Reuters reporter said. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the attack police said. There was no claim of responsibility. Several attacks in which trucks or cars have driven into crowds have taken place in Europe in the past year. Al-Qaeda in 2010 urged its followers to use trucks as a weapon. In London on March 22, a man in a car ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four, and then stabbed a policeman to death before being shot by police.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for both an attack in Nice, France, in July, when a truck killed 86 people celebrating Bastille Day, and one in Berlin in December, when a truck smashed through a Christmas market, killing 12 people. A government source said all Swedish government offices had been closed. All ministers were safe, the source said.

King Carl Gustaf expressed his horror at the attack. “Our thoughts go out to those that were affected, and their families,” he said.

The EU offered Sweden support. – Reuters

PICTURE: EPA Emergency services work at the scene where a truck crashed into a department store in central Stockholm, Sweden, yesterday. Three people were killed and eight others were injured. The incident took place on Drottningholm Street (Queen Street), media...