Swedish police: Explosions were terrorism

[Jazzy]

STOCKHOLM – Two blasts that shook a busy shopping street in central Stockholm were an act of terrorism, officials said Sunday, in what appeared to be a suicide bombing. It would be the first such attack in the Nordic country.



Police would not comment on a motive for the Saturday attack, which left the apparent bomber dead and two people injured. But a Swedish news agency said it received an e-mail threat just before the blast in which the writer claimed to have visited the Middle East for jihad, and referred to the country's soldiers in Afghanistan and a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad that outraged the Muslim world.



The terror threat alert in the Nordic country is not being raised from its current elevated level, although police are investigating the attacks as a crime of terror, spokesman Anders Thornberg told reporters.



When we go through the existing criteria and the series of events that occurred it fits well within the description of a terror crime, Thornberg said. He declined to elaborate.



Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt described the attack as a most worrying attempt at a terrorist attack. Bildt commented in a Twitter message that it failed — but could have been truly catastrophic.



Thornberg did not confirm local media reports that the man who died had explosives strapped to his body. He also would not say if the man was a suspected suicide bomber as widely reported by Swedish media, but added that police have a totally clear picture about that but were not sharing the information.



He said there were no indications so far that other people were involved.



If this is a suicide bomber, then it's the first time in Sweden, he told The Associated Press.



Full story link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101212/ap_on_re_eu/eu_sweden_terror

 

[Dennis]

Thank god nobody died, but may i ask who in god's name would want to terror Sweden?

 

[Evil Eye]

First time for everything

Thank god nobody died, but may i ask who in god's name would want to terror Sweden?

Do I smell puns?

 

[Dennis]

First time for everything

Do I smell puns?

Maybe they are a little cheesy.

 

[Cinnamon]

Yes, those peaceful Muslims strike again. Another article I read today says this, in part:



Minutes before the explosions, a Swedish news agency received an e-mail that contained a call to arms to Muslim fighters and a threat to take revenge for Sweden's involvement in the war in Afghanistan and for caricatures of the prophet Muhammad by a Swedish artist. The e-mail came attached with audio files in Swedish and Arabic.



Now your children, daughters and sisters will die just like our brothers, sisters and children are dying, the e-mail said. Our actions will speak for themselves.



The e-mail lashed out at Swedes for their war against Islam, for denigrating the prophet and for their stupid support of the pig Vilks, a reference to the artist Lars Vilks, whose drawings of Muhammad as a dog sparked controversy in 2007.



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-stockholm-blast-20101212,0,3459748.story

 

[DrLeftover]

This is the Jihadists expressing their freedom.



One reason they would attack in Sweden is that in that country, as in the rest of the West, Women have Rights as Citizens.

 

[Durandal]

Yes, those peaceful Muslims strike again. Another article I read today says this, in part:



Minutes before the explosions, a Swedish news agency received an e-mail that contained a call to arms to Muslim fighters and a threat to take revenge for Sweden's involvement in the war in Afghanistan and for caricatures of the prophet Muhammad by a Swedish artist. The e-mail came attached with audio files in Swedish and Arabic.



Now your children, daughters and sisters will die just like our brothers, sisters and children are dying, the e-mail said. Our actions will speak for themselves.



The e-mail lashed out at Swedes for their war against Islam, for denigrating the prophet and for their stupid support of the pig Vilks, a reference to the artist Lars Vilks, whose drawings of Muhammad as a dog sparked controversy in 2007.



http://www.latimes.c...0,3459748.story

There are violent and peaceful people of all creeds; to use sarcasm (the quotes around peaceful Muslims) to imply that an entire set of people are one and the same, is a [logical] fallacy. There are violent Buddhists, violent Hindus, violent Christians, violent Muslims, violent Jews, violent Atheists, and a whole lot of other violent individuals of other creeds out there...



...as for the topic, the Scandinavian nations have largely been lucky thus far to have been insulated from recent terrorism, it's unfortunate that the insulation has been peeled away in Sweden, but such is what can be expected while deploying the military in the foreign epicentre of an international enemy's former territory.