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Stockholm attack suspect showed interest in ISIL

10 April 2017 10:47 (UTC +04:00)

The suspected Stockholm lorry attacker had shown interest in extremist groups and was facing deportation after being refused residency, Swedish police said on Sunday, APA reported citing The National.

The first suspect, identified only as a 39-year-old man from Uzbekistan who was arrested hours after Friday’s attack, is believed to have sped a stolen beer lorry several hundred metres down the bustling pedestrian street Drottninggatan in the heart of Stockholm.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the Stockholm attack.

The 39-year-old suspect in the Stockholm attack "showed interest for extremist organisations like IS," police chief Jonas Hysing said.

The suspect had also been due to be expelled from Sweden after his residency application was rejected last year.

"He applied for a permanent residency permit in 2014. The migration agency rejected it in June 2016 and also decided that he was to be expelled," Mr Hysing said.

"In December 2016, he was informed by the migration agency that he had four weeks to leave the country. In February 2017, the case was handed over to the police to carry out the order, since the person had gone underground," he said.

On Friday afternoon, a stolen truck rammed into a crowd on a major pedestrian street in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm. At least four people were killed and over a dozen were injured as a result.