Four people killed after truck hits a crowd in Stockholm, Sweden

Four people were killed and at least 15 injured Friday afternoon when a truck drove into a crowd at the Ahlens department store on Drottninggatan in Stockholm, police said. Police spokesperson Lars Bystrom told STV that a suspect was detained in connection with the attack. A spokesperson for the Karolinska Hospital said that nine of the injured were in a serious condition and that two of the injured were children. The incident occurred at around 3pm. The truck, owned by the Spendrups brewery, was stolen earlier while it was making a delivery to a restaurant, Aftonbladet reported. Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven said: “Sweden has been attacked. Everything indicates that this is a terrorist act.” Swedish police have asked people to avoid the city center. Stockholm’s main railway station is closed, and the city’s metro system has been shut down. The Swedish transport agency says all train services to and from Stockholm have been cancelled at the request of police. Long-distance trains as well as the SL commuter train services are affected. There is no forecast for when service will be resumed. Police have also asked people to avoid using mobile phone network to prevent it from becoming overloaded, and are aking the public to message relatives using Skype, Facetime or Facebook’s safety feature.

Previous vehicle attacks

The Stockholm incident follows a string of similar attacks across Europe. Last month, Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge before attacking police officers guarding the parliament building. Five people died in the attack and dozens were injured. Masood was shot dead by police. In December, a man hijacked a truck and drove it into people at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12. On France’s Bastille Day national holiday of July 14, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd in Nice, killing 86 people. (Story developing)

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