Terrorists blamed for bomb attack on shoppers

Police would not comment on a motive for Saturday night's attack, but a Swedish news agency said it received an email threat just before the blast referring 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, 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," Mr Thornberg said. He declined to elaborate.

Mr Thornberg did not confirm local media reports that the man who died had explosives strapped to his body.

A car exploded in the city centre near Drottninggatan, causing panic among Christmas shoppers. Shortly afterwards, a second explosion was heard higher up on the same street. The exploded car contained gas canisters, rescue workers said.

Ten minutes before the blasts, Swedish news agency TT received an email saying "the time has come to take action".

According to the news agency, the email referred to Sweden's silence surrounding artist Lars Vilk's 2007 drawing of Muhammad as a dog and its soldiers in Afghanistan.

"Now your children, daughters and sisters shall die like our brothers and sisters and children are dying," the news agency quoted the email as saying.

Police said they were aware of the email, which had also been addressed to Sweden's security police, but couldn't immediately confirm a link to the explosions.

Two people were taken to the hospital with light injuries. It was not clear in which explosion they were hurt.

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.

The security police said then that the terrorism threat in Sweden remained low compared to that in other European countries.

British people should remain "vigilant" following the Swedish attack, British Home Secretary Theresa May said yesterday.

Government officials are talking to Swedish authorities to learn the details of two explosions in the capital, she said.

The UK terror threat level was raised from "substantial" to "severe" last January.

Mrs May said: "The threat level in the UK remains at severe and that means that an attack is possible, indeed is highly likely.

"So it is right that everyone should be vigilant in the UK.

"We have a very high threat level from international terrorism here in the UK and as I say, people do need to be vigilant."

Meanwhile, six Nato service members were killed yesterday in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, the international alliance said in a statement.

Nato did not give further details, in keeping with a policy of waiting for the alliance's individual

countries to identify their casualties.

Fighting has increased in southern Afghanistan as a surge of US troops poured into Helmand and Kandahar provinces this year in an attempt to push the Taliban out of their traditional strongholds.

More than 670 international troops have been killed so far this year, well above the 502 killed in the whole of 2009.

Also yesterday, Nato said a joint Nato-Afghan force killed a Taliban leader and captured a key member of another militant group in the east.

The Taliban leader was involved in weapons smuggling and attacks in eastern Wardak province, according to a statement. Nato identified him only by his first name, Fedahi.