Suspected terrorist attack in Stockholm

[Kevin23]

An explosion in a central part of Stockholm on Saturday, killed one man and has injured 2 others but could have been much worse as the area at the time of the incident was packed with Christmas shoppers. Threatening emails about Sweden sent beforehand, and suspicious notes also found at the scene by Swedish police made mentioned of "Afghanistan" amongst other rhetoric, leading investigators to believe the blasts could be tied to Terrorism from the Middle East/South Asia.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/11/sweden.explosion/index.html?hpt=T2

[davidbfpo]

Referring to the dead terrorist in Sweden, another illustration of the speed of modern news media, I assume their own work:
The suicide bomber who tried to cause carnage in Stockholm followed a series of fundamentalist Islamic websites including one preparing for the Day of Judgment.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8198064/Sweden-suicide-bomber-terrorist-who-dreamed-of-Judgment-Day-on-Facebook.html

Copied from another thread on SNA & CT.

[Kevin23]

The man behind an explosion on Saturday in central Stockholm and himself it's only fatality, has been identified as an Iraq-born man who studied and lived in the UK. It is unknown whether he was acting alone or had assistance, however links to Yemen are being looked into in the course of the investigation into the incident.

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/sweden-ids-bomber-taimour-abdulwahab-as-iraqi-born-citizen-who-studied-in-uk/19757629

[bourbon]

Thomas Hegghammer has a roundup on the Stockholm bombing (http://www.jihadica.com/stockholm/) at his excellent Jihadica blog.

Key information points:

* The bomber has been identified as Taimour Abdalwahhab al-Abdaly, a 28-year old man of Iraqi origin who moved to Sweden in 1992. He leaves a wife and three children. See here and here for profiles.

* The bomber sent an audio statement to a Swedish news agency shortly before the blast. The recording is available here.

* In the statement the bomber says he recently traveled to the Middle East “for jihad”. His Facebook page reportedly contained recent pictures of him in Jordan.

* The bomber lived for a while in Luton, UK, a city with a well known community of radical Islamists.

* The bomber’s facebook page reportedly carried gradually more jihadi videos starting in the spring of 2010

* A Swedish explosives expert who examined pictures from the scene described the bomb as amateurish.

* The jihadi internet forum Shumukh has several threads devoted to the incident (see e.g. here, here, here, here, here and here). The bomber is referred to by other forum members as “our brother“, but this is a standard phrase and does not necessarily indicate a prior connection. So far there are no claims of responsibility by a known organization or jihadi media entity.

[davidbfpo]

Please note Post 2, which I moved from another thread; this concerns the suspect's use of Facebook.

I always look for the actual and potential role of the individuals around a suspect, plus community institutions - notably mosques.


The wife of the suicide bomber who blew himself up in a crowded Stockholm street has claimed the double life he lived meant she had no idea what he was planning.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8199275/Sweden-suicide-bombings-wife-knew-nothing-of-Stockholm-bombers-double-life.html

The BBC's report refers to:
A suspected suicide bomber who detonated explosives in Stockholm was challenged about his extreme views, a Luton mosque official says....He said that if he had believed Abdaly was dangerous, he would have notified the police.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11986036