MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. A hijacked beer truck ploughed into a crowd of people on Stockholm’s downtown Drottninggatan pedestrian mall on Friday afternoon.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said the police were treating the incident as terrorism, according to Reuters.
Something's happening on Drottninggatan and around Stockholm. pic.twitter.com/YPbrZSe5Mb
— Johnny Chadda (@johnnychadda) 7 April 2017
Four people have been killed as a result of the incident and another fifteen injured, according to police estimates. Nine of the injured are in a severe condition.
#BREAKING video: moments after the Truck the rammed people struck the building in #Stockholm pic.twitter.com/b9seoCkK1x
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) 7 April 2017
One person has been detained in connection with the incident, according to the TT news agency.
Earlier, the police revealed the photo of the suspect.
Absolutely terrible what is happening in #stockholm right now. A press conference is being held, a picture of a possible suspect is shown pic.twitter.com/Fn47ehxrf3
— Ruta Mozuraityte (@rutamozur) 7 April 2017
The police has started "a preliminary investigation of suspected terrorist crimes."
First image of Sweden Truck Accident @France24_en @ZoieOBrien_ #Stockholm #Sweden pic.twitter.com/KDGRghKXol
— Dennis Wecker (@dennis_wecker) 7 April 2017
At around 3pm local time, a truck smashed into the Ahlens department store on Stockholm's busiest Drottninggatan street. Live television footage showed smoke coming out of the department store, several people were rushed away in ambulances.
Part of central Stockholm was cordoned off. The city's subway system was shut down and the main railway station was evacuated.
The truck used in the attack is owned by the Swedish brewery company Spendrups.
"The truck was stolen while goods were being delivered to a restaurant. Its driver was unloading the goods when someone got into the truck," the company's spokesman said, according to the Aftonbladet newspaper. He added that the driver was safe.