The Prime Minister of Sweden has spoken out against mass immigration following the terror incident in Stockholm on Friday in which a failed asylum seeker killed four people in a truck attack.
Stefan Lofven said his country will ‘never go back’ to the high levels of immigration seen in autumn 2015 and pledged to change Sweden’s liberal attitude.
He said: ‘Sweden will never go back to the [mass migration] we had in autumn 2015, never. Everyone who has been denied a permit should return home.This makes me feel enormously frustrated. If you have been denied a visa you are supposed to leave the country.’
He added: ‘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. Terrorists can never defeat Sweden, never.’
Rakhmat Akilov, a 39-year-old father of four from Uzbekistan, hijacked a 30-ton truck and drove into pedestrians on central Stockholm’s main shopping street on Friday afternoon.
Police sources said a bomb was found in the truck which failed to detonate. It contained gas canisters, chemicals and nails.
The terrorist arrived in Sweden in June 2014 but was told in December 2016 he must leave the country within a month. He dodged authorities by giving a false address.
It came to light over the weekend he had given his support to Islamic State and the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Akilov, who was captured near Stockholm’s international airport, reportedly told police that he carried out the attack on the orders of Islamic State. He allegedly said: ‘The bombings in Syria must stop,’ according to Swedish media.
Authorities believe he was inspired by last month’s London terror attack carried out by Khalid Masood which killed five people and injured dozens of others.
