Two explosions in central Stockholm killed one person and injured two, causing panic among Christmas shoppers.
Police spokeswoman Petra Sjolander said a car exploded near Drottninggatan, a busy shopping street in the centre of the city. Shortly afterward, a second explosion was heard higher up on the same street, and a man was found injured on the ground.
He was later pronounced dead.
Two other people were taken to the hospital with lighter injuries, but it was not immediately clear in which explosion they were hurt.
Rescue services spokesman Roger Sverndal said the car that exploded contained gas canisters.
Mr Sjolander said it was unclear what caused the second explosion and if the two blasts were linked, but said a police bomb squad is at the site.
Gabriel Gabiro heard the explosion from inside a watch store across the street and saw smoke coming from the area where the man was lying. “There was a man lying on the ground with blood coming out of his belly, and with his personal belongings scattered around him,” he said.
Gabiro said the blast was “quite loud” and he saw people running from the site.
“It shook the store that I was in,” he said of the blast. “Then there was smoke and gun powder coming into the store.”
Sweden – which has so far been spared any large terrorist attacks – raised its terror threat alert level from low to elevated in October because of “a shift in activities” among Swedish-based groups that could be plotting attacks there.
