Twin blasts in Stockholm leave one dead

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PORTUGAL: Jurgen Kroger (from left to right), head of European Union (EU) delegation, Abebe Selassie, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission Chief for Portugal, and Rasmus Ruffer, head of European Central Bank (ECB) delegation, leaving the Portuguese p

STOCKHOLM, Dec 12 (agencies): Twin blasts in central Stockholm killed one person and injured two others, in what Sweden's foreign minister said was a "terrorist" attack that could have had "catastrophic" consequences.
The explosions Saturday, in a busy part of the capital packed with Christmas shoppers, came minutes after a Swedish news agency received a message denouncing Sweden's military presence in Afghanistan and threatening deadly attacks.
One of the blasts killed the suspected bomber, Sweden's SVT reported, although neither police nor the intelligence service would confirm that it was an attack.
But Carl Bildt's comments, sent from his Twitter account, were unequivocal.
The first blast hit at around 4:50 pm (1550 GMT) when a parked car packed with gas canisters exploded, police said.
That explosion left two people in need of hospital treatment for minor injuries, said emergency services spokesman Bengt Norberg. The second blast was about 200 metres (650 feet) away, he added.
Police spokeswoman Petra Sjolandero said one person had been found dead at the site of this explosion.
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said a "terrorist attack" which could have been "truly catastrophic" had failed. Tweeting about the blasts, he described them as "most worrying".
A local news agency, TT, said it had received a threatening e-mail shortly before the blasts, which called for "mujahideen", or Islamist fighters, to rise up in Sweden and Europe.
Attacking the country over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed drawn by Swedish artist Lars Vilks as well as Sweden's military presence in Afghanistan, the e-mail promised Swedes would "die like our brothers and sisters".
Sweden has some 500 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan as part of the international military force.
In November, Sweden raised its terror alert level from low to elevated because of a "shift in activities" among Swedish-based groups thought to be plotting attacks.