British police have said they were searching a London property in connection with the bomb blasts in Stockholm, the Swedish capital, amid reports that a man linked to the attacks used to live in the country.
“Officers executed a search warrant under the Terrorism Act 2000 at an address in Bedfordshire. There have been no arrests,” a spokesman said.
“We are confirming that this is in connection with the incident in Stockholm.”
The search came as press reports suggested that a man who had studied and lived in Luton, Bedfordshire, north of London, was behind Saturday’s blasts.
‘Terrorist crime’
The explosions came as Christmas shoppers crowded in a busy quarter of the Swedish capital. Swedish police meanwhile announced that they are treating bomb blasts as a “terrorist crime”.
Two people received minor injuries in the explosions on Saturday, the first of which came from a car that blew up near Drottninggatan, a busy shopping street in the centre of the city.
Shortly afterwards, a second explosion was heard further up the same street and the body of a man was found on the ground.
Media in Sweden have named a 28-year-old man of Iraqi origin, who they say died in the attack, as the suspected bomber but Swedish police have refused to confirm the details.
UK link
Shumukh al-Islam, a pro al-Qaeda website, named Taymour Abdel Wahab as the man responsible for the explosions. But Sweden’s intelligence agency Saepo would not confirm or deny that the man identified by the website was the bomber.
But British media reported that he studied at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton, around 50km north of London, and had continued living in the town in recent years.
The wife and children of Taymour Abdel Wahab – said to be in his late 20s – were reportedly still living in Luton, The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph reported.
Britain’s Home Office, or interior ministry, refused to comment on the reports.
“We remain in close contact with the Swedish authorities,” a spokeswoman told AFP news agency.
“It would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation at this time.”
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a plane as it approached the US city of Detroit on Christmas Day last year, had also spent time in Britain, studying mechanical engineering at University College London.
Source: Agencies