Four people were killed and 15 injured when a stolen truck ploughed into a crowd of people outside a busy department store in central Stockholm yestreday, police said, adding that one man had been arrested in connection with the attack, reports AFP. It was the latest in a string of similar assaults with vehicles in Europe, including in London, Berlin and the southern French city of Nice.
Children were among the injured, Stockholm's regional health care authorities said in a statement.
Sweden authorities said it had strengthened border controls after the attack.
"Sweden has been attacked. Everything points to a terror attack," said Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who cut short a visit in southwestern Sweden to return to Stockholm after what, if confirmed, would be the country's first deadly terror attack.
"I have decided to strengthen our border controls," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters, as police said they were still hunting the truck driver.
Swedish police are still hunting the driver of the truck adding that they had arrested another man earlier in the evening in a suburb north of Stockholm. That man's appearance had matched that of a man in a picture released by police as a person of interest wanted in connection with the attack.
Police had earlier released a grainy picture of a suspect they did not have in custody.
Police spokesman Lars Bystrom refused to say whether the man who was later arrested was the man in the picture, and would not confirm media reports that he had confessed to the attack.
Police had earlier said two people had been taken in for questioning.
Pictures taken at the scene showed a large blue truck with a mangled undercarriage smashed into the Ahlens department store.
A spokeswoman for beer company Spendrups told AFP that the truck "had been stolen during a delivery to a restaurant."
Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic.
One witness identified only as Dimitris told the Aftonbladet daily the truck came "out of nowhere."
"I couldn't see if anyone was driving but it was out of control. I saw at least two people get run down. I ran as fast as I could away from there," he said.
Another shopper, 66-year-old Leander Nordling, was at Ahlens when he suddenly heard a loud bang.
"It sounded like a bomb exploding and smoke starting pouring in through the main entrance," he told daily Aftonbladet.
He and fellow shoppers took refuge in a storage room inside the department store.
"After that the building was evacuated ... There were a lot of guards who took care of us outside and they urged us to leave the scene immediately," Nordling said.
Video footage taken from above showed scores of people streaming down the street in terror.