Swedes charge Uzbek man with terrorism in truck attack

Flag of Sweden (Photo By Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

STOCKHOLM — Swedish prosecutors on Tuesday charged an Uzbek man who rammed a stolen truck into a crowd in downtown Stockholm in April, killing five and injuring 14, with terrorism, attempts to carry out a terror act and causing others to be endangered.

Rakhmat Akilov is the only suspect and has already confessed.

Akilov was arrested hours after he drove a stolen beer truck into a crowd of shoppers on a busy pedestrian shopping street and crashed it into an upscale department store in Stockholm’s city centre on April 7.

According to the charges obtained by The Associated Press, Akilov had offered to the Islamic State group that he would carry out an attack in Stockholm on behalf of IS, and had gathered information about possible targets. It was not clear whether they had accepted his offer.

Investigators found a memory card with “material that can be connected to IS,” including execution videos.

Akilov also caused an explosion inside the truck he had stolen when a suspected bomb made of five gas canister with 38 screws, blades and smaller metal objects exploded. The blast caused “extensive damage to the vehicle,” according to the charges.

The Uzbek construction worker, who was 39 at the time of the attack, was subject to deportation from Sweden ahead of attack as his asylum application had been rejected.

Swedish prosecutors and his defence lawyer plan separate news conference later Tuesday.