Twin Terror Bombings Shatter Serenity In Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden was rocked by a pair of terror attacks. The pair of car bombs detonated within minutes of each other and the attacks were geared towards Sweden's involvement in fighting in Afghanistan and the cartoon jihad.



These attacks differ from other Islamic terror attacks in that warnings were emailed to local media outlets and law enforcement. That's a different modus operandi than the typical attack, and should signal to law enforcement that something else is perhaps going on here.

One man, who appears to have been a suicide bomber, was killed, and two people were injured. The explosions occurred about ten minutes after a Swedish news agency and police received a threatening e-mail that referred to Sweden’s troops in Afghanistan and a Swedish cartoonist's controversial 2007 depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

The attacks bring the struggle with terrorism to Sweden, which until now has avoided the violent attacks that have taken place in other European nations.

In the first explosion, a car filled with gas canisters burst into flames at about 4:50 p.m. local time on a street in a busy shopping center, reports The Guardian.

Another explosion occurred nearby 10-15 minutes later, and witnesses reported seeing a man lying on the ground afterward with wounds in his abdomen.

The Swedish newspaper Aftonblade reported the he was carrying pipe bombs and a backpack full of nails, according to the Guardian, but that news was not confirmed by authorities. Police did say it was “possible” that the man had blown himself up, and a police spokesman said Sunday the force was investigating “terror crimes.”