THE man arrested in relation to the attack in the centre of Stockholm is suspected of being the driver of the truck that killed four people, Swedish police say.

“The person in question has been arrested as the culprit ... in this case the driver,” spokesman Lars Bystrom said on Saturday.

“We suspect that the man who was arrested is the perpetrator,”

“Then, there can be other people who are associated with him but we do not know that at the current time.”

Stockholm’s Karolinska hospital says six of the 15 injured have been released following treatment while eight adults and one child remain in hospital.

The man was detained in a northern Stockholm suburb on Friday and later arrested on suspicion of having committed a terrorist crime.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported police had detained a second man in the northern suburb of Hjulsta and he had a connection to the previously arrested person, citing police sources.

The police declined to comment on whether it had arrested any additional suspects but said others were being sought.

Police said earlier after the attack that they had detained the man who “matched the description” of a photo released of a suspect wearing a dark hoodie and military green jacket.

But they did not confirm if he drove the truck.

According to the Aftonbladet newspaper, the same man is a 39-year-old of Uzbek origin and a supporter of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

Swedish police said on their website early on Saturday they had placed the man confirmed to be detained under prolonged arrest.

They said the driver had not been detained, instead saying the man in custody was “connected to” the incident.

Police would not comment on reports that a second man had been arrested in the northern suburb of Hjulsta.

The truck was removed from the of the carnage but the area remains closed for further investigation.

Earlier Swedish police said they were also interviewing two people in relation to the deadly truck attack in Stockholm’s main shopping strip. It is not clear if they are separate to the two males that have been arrested.

“I can confirm that we have taken in two people for questioning, but that does not necessarily mean that they are suspects,” police spokesman Lars Bystrom said.

“We want to talk to everybody who knows anything about this and sometimes it’s better to talk at the police station than place of event.”

A national police chief, Stefan Hector, said the police’s “working hypothesis is that this is a terror attack.”

It comes after the stolen beer truck ploughed through pedestrians and into the upscale Ahlens department store on Drottninggatan Street in Stockholm.

Swedish broadcaster SVT said shots were fired at the scene.

At least 15 people were injured in the attack, including children, nine of those listed as being “seriously injured”.

Firefighters Control Fire from Truck Used in the Stockholm Attack Firefighters Control Fire from Truck Used in the Stockholm Attack

“Sweden has been attacked,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in a nationally televised press conference.

“This indicates that it is an act of terror.”

Later in the night, Lofven laid a bouquet of red roses and lit a candle near the site of the attack.

“The country is in a state of shock,” he said.

Mr Lofven said he had strengthened the country’s border controls.

“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. So terrorists can never defeat Sweden, never,” he said.

If confirmed as a terror attack, it would be Sweden’s first such attack with a deadly outcome.

Earlier reports had suggested that he was arrested at the scene but they proved to be false.

Jan Evensson of the Stockholm police told a news conference that the man who was arrested looked like the person depicted wearing a greenish hood in a surveillance camera photo that police released earlier. He said police were “particularly interested” in him.

Mats Lofving, the head of Swedish police’s National Operations Department, said the picture, was taken around the time of the attack.

The Swedish brewery Spendrups said one of its trucks had been hijacked just a few blocks from the crash scene earlier Friday.

“It is one of our delivery trucks. In connection with a delivery to a restaurant called Caliente, someone jumped into the truck and drove it away while the driver was unloading his delivery,” Marten Luth told the Swedish news agency TT.

The beer company’s truck driver was not injured, he said.

Watching the events unfold after a truck drove into Åhléns on Drottninggatan. pic.twitter.com/kxJLUOAsns — Emil Stenqvist (@svammel) April 7, 2017

Pictures taken at the scene showed a large blue truck with a mangled undercarriage smashed into the Ahlens department store.

The truck travelled for more than 450 meters along a main pedestrian street known as the Drottninggatan before it smashed into a crowd outside the upscale Ahlens department store.

It came to rest in the entrance to the building. TV footage showed smoke coming out of the store after the crash.

Late into the night, forensic experts in full white suits could be seen working on the truck, collecting evidence.

Glen Foran, an Australian tourist in his 40s, told Reuters how he managed to survive.

“I turned around and saw a big truck coming towards me. It swerved from side to side. It didn’t look out of control, it was trying to hit people,” he said. “It hit people, it was terrible. It hit a pram with a kid in it, demolished it,” he said.











“It took a long time for police to get here. I suppose from their view it was quick, but it felt like forever,” he said.

A witness, Anna told local Aftonbladet news that she saw “hundreds” of people running for their lives.

She said: “I saw hundreds of people run, they ran for their lives.

“I turned and ran as well.”





Something's happening on Drottninggatan and around Stockholm. pic.twitter.com/YPbrZSe5Mb — Johnny Chadda (@johnnychadda) April 7, 2017

Another witness told the newspaper that the out-of-control truck ran over at least two people.

Dimitris told local news: “I went to the main street when a big truck came out of nowhere.

“I could not see if anyone was driving it but it got out of control. I saw at least two being run over.

“I ran as fast as I could.”

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 the 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.

#Stockholm truck crash: Swedish Police are treating the incident as a possible terror attack - SVT channel https://t.co/kn38ue5m5A pic.twitter.com/qQrPxMk3le — The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 7, 2017

Emergency services were called just before 3pm local time (11pm AEST).

Police vans circulating in the city using loudspeakers urged people to go straight home and avoid large crowds.

Nearby buildings were locked down for hours in the heart of the capital - including the country’s parliament - and the main train station and several large malls were evacuated.

Sweden’s national theatre, Dramaten, cancelled three performances on Friday evening.

Another section of Drottninggatan was also the scene of Sweden’s only other terror attack, in 2010, when a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing himself and slightly injuring several others.

WORLD LEADERS REACT TO ATTACK

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf said in a brief statement that the Swedish royal family had noted the apparent attack in central Stockholm “with dismay” and sent condolences to the families of the victims and injured.

“We follow developments but as of now our thoughts go to the victims and their families,” he said.

In neighbouring Finland, President Sauli Niinisto said he is shocked by the “maniac act of terror” in Stockholm.

“Every terror attack is to be equally condemned. But it touches us deeply when such an attack takes place in our Nordic neighbourhood,” Mr Niinisto said in a statement.

My heart is in #Stockholm this afternoon. My thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends of today's terrible attack. — Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) April 7, 2017

EU Council President Donald Tusk said in a tweet that “my heart is in Stockholm this afternoon. My thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends of today’s terrible attack.”

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that “one of Europe’s most vibrant and colourful cities appears to have been struck by those wishing it - and our very way of life - harm.”

Mr Juncker said “an attack on any of our (EU) member states is an attack on us all” and that Sweden can count on EU help.

We stand in solidarity with the people of #Sweden. An attack on any of our Member States is an attack on us all https://t.co/YDYiHoKkSV — Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) April 7, 2017

“We stand together against terror.” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington was ready to provide any help it could to investigate “this brutal and senseless attack”.

“Attacks like this are intended to sow the seeds of fear, but in fact they only strengthen our shared resolve to combat terrorism around the world,” he added.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman says the German government’s “thoughts are with the people in Stockholm, the injured, the relatives, first responders and police”.

Steffen Seibert said Friday on Twitter following the apparent attack in Sweden: “We stand together against terror.”

Germany experienced a truck attack on a busy Berlin Christmas market in December, in which 12 people were killed.

VEHICLES BEING USED AS WEAPONS

The incident follows a series of attacks in Europe by terrorists using vehicles as weapons.

The worst attack was last year in France on the Bastille Day national holiday of July 14, in which a man rammed a truck into a crowd in the Mediterranean resort of Nice, killing 86 people.

He was shot dead by police, and the Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

Last month, Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old convert to Islam known to British security services, drove a car at high speed into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge before launching a frenzied knife attack on a policeman guarding the parliament building.

The incident killed five people, while Masood himself was shot dead by police.

In December, a man hijacked a truck and slammed into shoppers at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people.

That attacker was shot dead by police in Milan four days later, and the rampage was claimed by the ISIS.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and is republished here with permission.