Sweden suicide bomber: Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was living in Britain

Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly tried to set off a car bomb packed with gas canisters in a busy shopping street in Stockholm. The car caught fire and the bomber fled the scene before blowing himself up 300yd away 15 minutes later, injuring two bystanders. It emerged last night that Abdulwahab, who was due to turn 29 yesterday, is a former physical therapy student at Bedfordshire University in Luton, and that his wife and three young children still live in the town. MI5 is now investigating possible links with extremists in Luton, whether the bomber was radicalised at the university and claims that he was helped by an extremist group in Yemen, the base for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The suicide bombing follows an attempt by Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, a former student at University College London, to blow himself up last Christmas on a flight to Detroit. Abdulmutallab had trained in Yemen, but had become increasingly radical during his time in Britain. The security services and police are concerned that British university campuses have become breeding grounds for extremism. Neighbours told The Daily Telegraph last night that they had last seen Abdulwahab at the 1930s semi-detached house in Luton, Beds, two and a half weeks ago. The couple have two young girls and a baby son. His wife, Mona, a Swedish citizen, is said to run a home beauty company.

Reports from Sweden said Abdulwahab was shouting in Arabic and carrying six pipebombs, one of which exploded, along with a rucksack full of nails and explosives. A paramedic said the bomber had no injuries to the face or body in general but looked as if he had been carrying something that exploded in his stomach. One witness said the bomber had worked as a sandwich board advertiser in the Drottninggatan shopping area. Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, said it was “a most worrying attempt at a terrorist attack”, adding that it “failed – but could have been truly catastrophic”. Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said: “The Swedish government have indicated they believe this was a terrorist attack. We will be talking to them about the details of that attack.”

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Sweden launches criminal investigation of U.S. intelligence activities

Swedish prosecutors launched a formal criminal investigation into "unlawful intelligence activity" conducted by the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, according to a statement posted Monday on the Swedish Prosecution Authority's website. The statement comes two days after Swedish security police announced they were looking into the activities. The investigation began when U.S. Embassy officials told authorities its employees had been conducting surveillance similar to what was recently discovered in Norway. Head prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said the criminal investigation concerns actions taken to protect American staff and the United States' post in Stockholm. The criminal investigation will establish whether crimes have been committed, he said.

The scale of surveillance is not known, but according to a security police statement Saturday, operations have been ongoing since 2000. They were conducted without the knowledge of the Foreign Affairs office, the Justice Department, the security or the local police in Sweden, the statement said. "I think it's regrettable they have conducted these activities without informing Swedish authorities." Sweden's Justice Minister Beatrice Ask told reporters Saturday, "I think it is very serious if these activities have been carried out in breach of Swedish law." The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm released a statement Saturday that recognized the existence of a program to detect suspicious activities around U.S. facilities, and pointed to past terrorist attacks as evidence for why such a program is necessary.

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Robbers Use Copter To Raid Swedish Cash Depot

Robbers used a helicopter Wednesday in a spectacular raid of a cash depot in Stockholm, breaking into the building through the roof and flying off with bags of cash, police and witnesses said. The pre-dawn heist stunned police in the Swedish capital, who were unable to deploy their own helicopters to the scene because of suspected explosives placed at their hangar.

Shortly after 5 a.m., the robbers jumped onto the roof of the cash depot belonging to security firm G4S and smashed a window to enter the building, police spokeswoman Ulrika Lonngren told broadcaster SVT. There were staff inside the building, but no one was injured. Witnesses reported hearing loud bangs during the heist, but it wasn't immediately clear whether any explosives had been used. Police were not sure if the thieves managed to steal any money, "but we have reports that witnesses saw them loading objects into the helicopter."

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