A truck crashed into the crowd in the heart of Stockholm, near a busy shopping center: it happened in the early afternoon in the Swedish capital, causing at least 4 confirmed deaths and 8 injuries, according to the toll released by the police in the evening. However, the methods of action closely resemble those of the attacks in recent months in Berlin, Nice and London. A man was arrested and allegedly admitted responsibility for the attack.
Immediately after the action, the man, whose identity is still unknown in the evening and who acted as a "lone wolf", had fled, creating panic in the Swedish capital. The Swedish Parliament was immediately closed, as were the buses and the underground, while almost immediately Prime Minister Stefan Löfven officially confirmed that it was a terrorist attack.
According to witnesses, the driver of the truck "was wearing a balaclava". The truck was stolen shortly before the attack. The vehicle belongs to 'Spendrups', a popular Swedish beer brand, and was stolen during the delivery round in the city's restaurants. The company managers have had contact with the legitimate driver of the vehicle. According to the brewery's director of communications, Maarten Lyth, the driver "was unloading goods when someone jumped into the truck and ran away". Lyth, specifying that he was unable to say how many people took possession of the truck, said the driver "is unhurt but in shock, he is currently being questioned by the police".
The truck mowed down the crowd in the central pedestrian street Drottningsgatten in Stockholm and finished its journey in the Ahlens City shopping center. “I have seen hundreds of people running for their lives. I turned around and started running too,” a witness told the Aftonbladet newspaper. Another witness said: “I was walking towards the main road when a large truck came out of nowhere. I couldn't see if anyone was driving or out of control, but I did see that at least two people were crushed. And I ran as hard as I could." In the same area, on 11 December 2010, a double car bomb attack took place: it was the first suicide bombing in the Scandinavian countries.
