Sweden says Stockholm blasts were “terror crimes”

STOCKHOLM, (Reuters) – Swedish police investigating  two blasts that rocked central Stockholm yesterday, killing  the suspected bomber and wounding two, said today they had  good leads into what they said were “terror crimes”.
Before the explosions, the Swedish news agency TT received a  threatening letter about Sweden’s military presence in  Afghanistan and caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad drawn  several years ago by a Swedish cartoonist.
Anders Thornberg, director of operations at the Security  Police, 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.
“We are investigating this as terror crimes according to  Swedish law … we have not raised the security (threat) level,”  Thornberg said, adding police were stepping up their presence in  the capital.
The incident follows several nervous months in Europe after  a U.S. travel alert about possible attacks by militants and a  failed bid by a Yemen-based al Qaeda group to use air cargo to  send parcel bombs via Europe to America.
“Other European capitals must be worried about the fact that  this happened in a capital city in the run-up to Christmas,”  said Claude Moniquet, head of the European Strategic  Intelligence and Security Center think-tank in Brussels.
“It could be a signal to other potential attackers to prompt  them to attack at this time.”
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  10-15 minutes later, killed one man and wounded two people.
“Most worrying attempt at terrorist attack in crowded part  of central Stockholm. Failed — but could have been truly  catastrophic,” Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a message on  Twitter, which was also shown on his blog.
Police vans cordoned off several streets around the body and  towed away the car. The rest of the city centre was calm.
Swedish newspapers said the man had blown himself up. Dagens  Nyheter quoted a medic as saying: “It looked as if the man had  been carrying something that exploded in his stomach. He had no  injuries to the face or body in general and the shops around  were not damaged.”
Security police offered no other details as to how the man  triggered the explosions.
“As far as we know, it looks like he was working for  himself, but we have to be really sure so we are investigating  that there could be more perpetrators,” Thornberg told Reuters.
Aftonbladet quoted a source as saying the man was carrying  six pipebombs, of which one exploded, and a rucksack full of  nails and suspected explosive material.
The paper quoted witnesses as saying the man was shouting in  what was apparently Arabic.
TT said the email it received was also sent to the Security  Police and had sound files in Swedish and Arabic.
“Our actions will speak for themselves, as long as you do  not end your war against Islam and humiliation of the Prophet  and your stupid support for the pig Vilks,” TT quoted a man as  saying in one recording.
TT said the threat was linked to Sweden’s contribution to  the U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan, where it has 500  soldiers, mainly in the north.
It also referred to caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad by  the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who depicted the Prophet with the  body of a dog in a cartoon in 2007.
Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam  offensive.
British Home Secretary Theresa May told Sky News: “The  Swedish government, as I understand it, have indicated they  believe this was a terrorist attack but of course we need to  look at the details. We will be talking to them about the  details of that attack.”
In March, an American who called herself “JihadJane” was  charged with plotting to kill Vilks. In May, arsonists tried to  set fire to his house.
Vilks, contacted by Reuters Television, said: “This is the  first casualty of my project. It was an act against the Swedish  people to scare them and not me. The good news was that a  terrorist died and not someone else.”
Evan Kohlmann, a U.S. terrorism consultant, said: “Given the  scale of this attack and the target, I suspect this is a  homegrown local extremist who may or may not have connections to  any actual terrorist organisation.”