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STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Sweden's first suicide bombing -- perpetrated by a man who said he was acting in the name of Islam -- was strongly condemned in Friday prayers at Stockholm's largest mosque.
“Everyone has been clear that the event is unacceptable and is only bringing difficulties for Muslims especially and for society in general,” said a text read at Stockholm's largest mosque, according to news agency TT.
“Therefore it is important to make clear to everyone, and especially to Muslim youth, which viewpoints Islam has when it comes to acts of this nature and the danger of these” acts, it added.
A man investigators have said they are “98 percent certain” is Swedish citizen Taimour Abdulwahab blew himself up near a busy pedestrian street in Stockholm early last Saturday evening.
He killed only himself, but two people were slightly injured when his car exploded a few minutes before some 300 metres (yards) away.
“Even if the injuries were limited, there is great danger in the fact that this attack was carried out at all, and it leads to serious consequences for Muslims in their everyday life and their future and for society as a whole,” the text said.
Reports have said Abdulwahab arrived in Sweden as a child from Iraq, and could have become radicalised in Britain, where he attended university and lived for the last few years.
The bomber sent an email to Swedish news agency TT and to intelligence agency Saepo before the twin blasts, in which he told “all hidden mujaheddin in Europe, and especially in Sweden, it is now the time to fight back.””The Islamic State, may Allah protect it, and its people, have now begun to fulfill its promises,” he said in an English-language audio-file attached to the email.
“No more oppression against Islam or Muslims will be tolerated in any way or any means,” he said, speaking specifically of Swedish artist Lars Vilks' drawing of the Prophet Mohammed as a dog and of Swedish troops posted in Afghanistan.
Imam Ben Mahmoud Rahman told daily Svenska Dagbladet his sermon would elaborate on Muslim's relationship to Sweden.
“Sweden is our country. Those who please Sweden please us. Those who hurt Sweden hurt us,” the sermon to some 2,500 people would say, the paper reported.
Omar Mustafa, the chairman of Sweden's Islamic association, said the sermon was going to be sent to other mosques as an inspiration.
The prosecutor on the case said Abdulwahab was carrying a cocktail of explosives and appears to have aimed to kill as many people as possible, but likely set off a small charge prematurely.
Investigators are seeking to determine whether the bomber had accomplices.
Sunday Times, December 17, 2010
