The suicide bomber who died in the Stockholm, Sweden, terrorist attack on Saturday, December 11, 2010, was an educated man. Found dead after the second blast, Taimour al-Abdaly had graduated from Bedfordshire, in Luton, in 2004. Since graduation, al-Abdaly worked as an advertiser for a local fish and chip restaurant on the street where, Saturday, he set off a car bomb and then detonated himself just over 650 feet away.
The car bomb was set in a local shopping parking lot and two people were injured in this explosion. He then walked the short distance and set off a bomb believed to be in a backpack. This explosion killed him. The car that carried the explosive was registered to al-Abdaly. He is believed to have one wife, although he was actively looking for a second, and two children. He is also believed to have been active on Muslim websites and on the popular social network, Facebook
“We were scared to death,” said one local resident according to The Local Sweden's News In English. Taimour al-Abdaly died at the intersection of Drottninggatan thoroughfare and Bryggargatan, which is a side street. Witness accounts from “The Local” state that al-Abdaly’s face was covered with some kind of cloth. They (the witnesses) tried to remove it to assist in his breathing, but he died quickly. The explosion, according to one of the witnesses, seemed to come out of his side but it was later determined that the explosion had come from the backpack that al-Abdaly was carrying.
A news report from “The Local” in 2005 stated that Sweden was not prepared for a terrorist attack. However, they handled this recent attack very well. Reports state that only two individuals (besides the suicide bomber himself) were injured although the two explosions were very close to a crowded shopping area. One witness of the aftermath of the explosions said that after a brief time where people were running down the street, stores began to close and the street became deserted. Paramedics and police were the only ones who were left in the area and there wasn’t much left for them to do.
The police believe that the 2nd explosion may not have been as big as was planned and that it possibly went off early. Just minutes before the explosion, al-Abdaly was speaking to another man. The police are anxious to speak with this other man to determine if al-Abdaly was working alone or in unison with one or more people.
References:
The Local Sweden's News In English
BCC News Europe and here
Daphne Matthews - Author
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