Swedish Police Officials Say Bomb Went Off Prematurely In Stockholm Bombings
Swedish police ascertained on Monday that the bomber who blew himself up in central Stockholm on Saturday had the intention of doing what he did in a more crowded place but the bomb went off prematurely.
Thomas Lindstrand, chief prosecutor, also made a link, for the first time, between the warning made by phone previously to the attack to a Swedish news agency and the explosions.
The man who wrote the e-mail from the phone was named Taimour Abdelwahab, according to the news agency that received the e-mail. Abdelwahab was a 28-year Iraqi-born Swede born who went to college in the UK.
Lindstrand said he was sure the man who sent the warning was the bomber, though he made it clear that no DNA test has been performed yet, nor has the police spoken to the family of the deceased.
A car exploded before the bombing of Abdelwahab, injuring two people.
Police leaks the two bombings, especially since the Swedish Security Service was speaking of a “sole perpetrator,” and the only one who was killed was the bomber himself.
Swedish police said that the perpetrator acted alone but they admitted that he may have had some help from outside, though no suspect has been taken into custody yet.
Security Police said on Sunday that what happened in Stockholm was an “act of terrorism.” Still, they added there was no reason to worry in Sweden, reason for which the alert level has not been raised.
On Saturday night, two explosions occurred within minutes in a district full of Christmas shoppers, after a news agency received e-mail warnings 10 minutes earlier.
The motives of the attack were said to be the presence of Swedish troops in Afghanistan and the fact that Lars Vilks, one of the cartoonists who mocked the Prophet of Islam was a Swedish national.
The bomber said that the war on Swedes would not end until Sweden brroke silence on the presence in Afghanistan and withdrew support for Lars Vilks.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt called the explosion, which is the first suicide bombing in Sweden, “unacceptable,” and said that “this is not the path we want to go down.”
The PM has also reminded that Sweden is an opened society where people come from different backgrounds, with different religions, or with no religion at all.
A police official said that the perpetrator “failed,” that is if his intention was to hurt many people, which did not happened.
On Sunday night the London Metropolitan police searched a property suspected of being linked to the attacks on Stockholm. It is supposed that the attacker had lived there.
Abdelwahab’s wife was shocked at hearing what her husband had done.
