Police say several dead, several injured in Swedish truck attack

STOCKHOLM – The Latest on the truck crashing into a department store in central Stockholm. (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

Norwegian police, who are normally unarmed, have decided to allow officers in some major cities to carry weapons following an apparent attack in the centre of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, national news agency NTB said.

Oslo Police spokeswoman Marita Aune confirmed to The Associated Press that officers in Oslo will begin to carry weapons with immediate effect.

Several people are believed to have been killed and several others injured after the lorry ran into a crowd of people on a pedestrian street in central Stockholm.

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5:30 p.m.

Swedish police say there are several dead and several injured after a truck ran into a crowd of people in downtown Stockholm.

In a statement Friday, they said that they cannot exclude this is an act of terror based on other events in Europe.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who was returning to Stockholm from central Sweden, said that everything indicates it was “a terror attack.”

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5 p.m.

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf said in a brief statement that the Swedish royal family had noted the apparent attack in central Stockholm “with dismay” and sent condolences to the families of the victims and injured.

“We follow developments but as of now our thoughts go to the victims and their families,” he said.

In neighbouring Finland, President Sauli Niinisto said he is shocked by the “maniac act of terror” in Stockholm.

“Every terror attack is to be equally condemned. But it touches us deeply when such an attack takes place in our Nordic neighbourhood,” Niinisto said in a statement.

Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini described on Twitter the events in Stockholm as “a shocking incident” and the Helsinki police said separately that it will tighten security measures in the centre of the Finnish capital.

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4:55 p.m.

Top European Union officials have expressed their condolences to the families of victims of the truck crash at a Stockholm department store and praised the courage of first responders.

EU Council President Donald Tusk said in a tweet Friday that “my heart is in Stockholm this afternoon. My thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends of today’s terrible attack.”

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that “one of Europe’s most vibrant and colorful cities appears to have been struck by those wishing it – and our very way of life – harm.”

Juncker said “an attack on any of our (EU) member states is an attack on us all” and that Sweden can count on EU help.

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4:50 p.m.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman says the German government’s “thoughts are with the people in Stockholm, the injured, the relatives, first responders and police” after a truck crashed into a department store, killing several people.

Steffen Seibert said Friday on Twitter following the apparent attack in Sweden: “We stand together against terror.”

Germany experienced a truck attack on a busy Berlin Christmas market in December, in which 12 people were killed.

The attacker, a 24-year-old Tunisian, was shot dead in Italy days later.

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4:20 p.m.

Photos at the scene in downtown Stockholm show that the truck which crashed into a major department store, killing several people, is a large beer truck.

The Aftonbladet daily says Swedish beermaker Spendrups said its truck had been carjacked earlier Friday. Photos showed the beer truck sticking out of the Ahlens department store.

Swedish broadcaster SVT said shots were fired at the scene, though it wasn’t clear who fired them.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says the truck crash “is an act of terror” that has killed at least two people. He says one person has been arrested in the attack.

Swedish media report that up to five people have been killed, and Sweden’s intelligence agency says many people have been injured in the crash.

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4:10 p.m.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says everything indicates that a truck which has crashed into a major department store in downtown Stockholm is “a terror attack.”

Lofven says at least two people have been killed in the attack Friday afternoon on the Ahlens store.

Broadcaster SVT says at least five people have been killed in the attack but police could not immediately confirm that. Swedish radio says at least three people have died.

The Aftonbladet daily says Swedish beermaker Spendrups said its truck had been carjacked earlier Friday.

The most recent attack in Stockholm was on Dec. 11, 2010, when an Iraqi-born Swede, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, detonated two devices, including one that killed him, in central Stockholm.

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4 p.m.

Swedish radio says a truck has crashed into an upscale department store in central Stockholm, killing at least three people.

Swedish police are urging people to avoid central Stockholm around the downtown Sergels Torg square, and Swedish news agency TT says subway traffic has been shut down in the area.

Broadcaster SVT says at least five have been killed but police could not immediately confirm.

Sweden’s Intelligence Agency says on its web page that there is “a large number of injured” in the truck crash.

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3:40 p.m.

Pictures published by Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet show that a truck has ploughed into the upscale Ahlens department store in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. Swedish radio says Friday that three people have been killed in the crash and Swedish broadcaster SVT says shots have been fired.

People in the area are fleeing the scene.

Witness Jan Granroth told Aftonbladet, another daily that “we stood inside a shoe store and heard something … and then people started to scream.” He says “I looked out of the store and saw a big truck.”

The store is part of a Sweden-wide chain. The building includes several stores at the street level.

3:10 p.m.

Swedish media say a truck has crashed into a department store in central Stockholm, killing three people.

Swedish radio says Friday that three people have been killed in the crash and Swedish broadcaster SVT says shots have been fired. People in the area are fleeing the scene.

The Swedish news agency TT says several people have been rushed away in ambulances, and live television footage showed smoke coming out of the department store that the truck smashed into.

Swedish police said say they have received calls about a person who has injured others driving a vehicle on the central Stockholm street of Drottninggatan. Police spokeswoman Towe Hagg says people have been injured but she would not confirm the deaths.