Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says the Stockholm terror attack won’t change his country

SWEDISH police found a suspect device in the truck that ploughed into a Stockholm crowd killing four as the driver is identified as a 39-year-old Uzbekistani.

The truck used in the attack. Picture: AFP

SWEDISH police found a suspect device in the truck that ploughed into a Stockholm crowd killing four as the driver is identified as a 39-year-old Uzbekistani.

The alleged driver, who is in custody, was already known to Swedish police, authorities said.

“We have found a device in the vehicle that doesn’t belong there ... A technical examination is ongoing, we can’t go into what it is right now ... whether it’s a bomb or a flammable device,” police chief Dan Eliasson told reporters.

Intelligence agency chief Anders Thornberg added that the Uzbek suspect “has appeared in our intelligence gathering in the past”.

“There is nothing to indicate that we’ve got the wrong man. On the contrary, the suspicions have strengthened,” Mr Eliasson added.

Flags flew at half-mast across Stockholm on Saturday as the city slowly returned to normal a day after the attack.

It came after four people were killed when they were run down by a truck in what is believed to be Sweden’s first mass casualty terror attack.

A stolen beer truck was driven into pedestrians in central Stockholm, running up onto a footpath and crashing into the Ahlens department store just before 3pm on Friday, Stockholm time.

Fifteen people were injured, nine of them seriously, before the truck came to a halt and burst into flames.

The attack followed the now familiar pattern being used by terrorists across Europe — using a stolen vehicle to mow down innocent people and create maximum carnage.

Five people died in a similar atrocity on Westminster Bridge in London two weeks ago, while 12 died when a truck was rammed into a Christmas market in Berlin in December.

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The truck used in the attack. Picture: AFP

“Sweden has been attacked,’’ Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said.

“Everything points to a terrorist act.’’

Two men were arrested later in two separate suburbs in Stockholm, the Swedish capital, with one suspected of being involved in “terrorist crimes’’.

Police said one man was suspected of being the driver of the truck. Swedish media reported the men were linked to each other.

Police had earlier released CCTV image of a man wearing jeans and a hooded jacket, saying they wished to speak to him.

The truck had been hijacked earlier in the day while it was on a delivery round.

Stockholm, which has so far avoided the deadly wave of Islamist terror attacks plaguing Europe, went into lockdown, with police closing down the streets and train stations in the central business district while the manhunt was underway.

Floral tributes left at the scene of the terrorist attack. Picture: Getty

The attack happened in the city’s main shopping precinct when the area was crowded with people, including children. Eight adults and a child remain in hospital.

Mr Lofven said terrorists would never defeat Sweden.

“Terrorists want us to be afraid, want us to change our behaviour, want us to not live our lives normally, but that is what we’re going to do,’’ he said.

Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt tweeted: “Steal a lorry or a car and then drive it into a crowd. That seems to be the latest terrorist method. Berlin. London. Now Stockholm.’’

One witness, Rikard Gauffin, said a “massive truck starts driving ... and mangles everything and just drives over exactly everything.

“It was so terrible and there were bodies lying everywhere ... it was really terrifying,” he told AFP.