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- We are working around the clock. The Stockholm County Police and the National Bureau of Investigation are assisting us in this work, and we are also cooperating with British police authorities, said Anders Thornberg, head of security measures at the Swedish Security Service.
Bomber not previously known to the Security Service
The body of the dead man still remains to be identified by his relatives, and there is as yet no analysis of his DNA to confirm his identity. Police nevertheless confirm his identity with “98 per cent" certainty. The body is currently undergoing a post-mortem examination.
The man, who was born in the Middle East in 1981 and granted Swedish citizenship in 1998, has lived for a number of years in both Sweden and the UK. According to Chief Public Prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand at the International Public Prosecution Office in Stockholm, the man has not previously come to the attention of the Security Service.
Explosives
The car that exploded on Olof Palmes gata in central Stockholm on Saturday 11 December has now been linked to the suicide bomber who blew himself up a few blocks away from the vehicle. The man carried large quantities of explosives.
- He wore a suicide belt, a rucksack containing a bomb and he also carried an object that looked like a pressure cooker, said Tomas Lindstrand.
- It could be assumed that something went wrong, causing some of the explosives to detonate and resulting in his death. One could speculate that he was on his way to some more crowded place, possibly the Central Station, or the Åhléns department store, continued Lindstrand.
Accomplices
Based on what the police currently know, the man seems to have acted alone.
- That said, we know from previous experience that this type of crime usually involves more than one individual. The attack appears to have been well-planned, and we assume that the suicide bomber had accomplices, said Tomas Lindstrand.
However, no one else is presently suspected of any involvement in the attack.
According to Anders Thornberg, warnings similar to that sent to the Security Service and the Swedish news agency TT shortly before the attack are received by the Service almost every day. Based on current circumstances, the Security Service is not making any changes to the present terrorist threat level, which remains elevated. Threat levels are assessed every hour.
