Sweden bomb went off early, authorities say

A bomber who apparently killed himself in central Stockholm on Saturday was probably on his way to a more crowded location, but his bomb went off prematurely, Swedish authorities said Monday.

He sent a warning to a Swedish news agency from his phone shortly before the explosion, said chief prosecutor Thomas Lindstrand, in the first official confirmation of a link between the blast and the warning.

The warning came from a man called Taimour Abdulwahab, the news agency that got the e-mail told CNN Monday.

Lindstrand said authorities were almost certain that he was the bomber, but that authorities have not yet carried out DNA testing or spoken to his family.

A car exploded shortly before Abdulwahab's bomb, injuring two people, in an explosion that police are also linking to him.

No one other than Abdulwahab was killed.

The Swedish Security Service said the incidents appeared to be the work of "a single perpetrator."

He appears to have been acting alone at the time of the explosion, prosecutor Thomas Lindstrand said Monday.

Police believe he had some kind of outside help in preparing the explosives, but they have no additional suspects at the moment, Lindstrand said.

On Sunday, Anders Thornberg of the Swedish Security Police called the explosions "an act of terrorism."

But he said Monday that there was no reason for the public to be worried, and that Sweden was not raising its terror threat level.

The two explosions occurred within minutes of each other Saturday in a district full of Christmas shoppers, Swedish authorities said. Swedish news agency TT and police said they received e-mailed threats 10 minutes before the explosions.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt called the explosions "completely unacceptable" as he mounted an impassioned defense of Swedish society in the face of what seems to be its first suicide bombing.

"This is not the path we want to go down," he said Sunday.

"Sweden is an open society," Reinfeldt added. "It is an open society which has demonstrated a will that people must be able to come from different backgrounds, believe in different gods or not believe in any god at all. Be able to live side by side, together, in our open society."

Regional police chief Carin Gotblad said the bomber had "failed."

"While this was a very serious event, no innocent people were seriously hurt. If that was the intention, then the perpetrator failed," she said.

On Sunday night, London's Metropolitan Police searched a property in Bedfordshire, north of London, in connection with the Stockholm probe, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman, who would not give his name, said the warrant was executed under Britain's Terrorism Act 2000 and that "no arrests have been made ... and no hazardous substances have been found."

The writer of the e-mailed threats to the Swedish news agency and police mentioned the presence of Swedish troops in Afghanistan and a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the prophet Mohammed, according to TT, a Swedish news wire that received the threats.

The e-mails contained sound files featuring a person speaking in Swedish and Arabic, TT reported.

About 500 Swedish troops are in Afghanistan, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

The sender referred to Swedish silence regarding the Afghanistan troops and the controversial cartoon by Lars Vilks that depicted Mohammed as having the body of a dog.

"Now your children, daughters and sisters will die like our brothers and sisters and children are dying," the e-mail states, according to TT.

"Our actions will speak for themselves," the person said in an audio recording attached to the e-mail. "As long as you don't end your war against Islam and the humiliation against the prophet and with your stupid support to Lars Vilks the pig."

Thornberg said over the weekend that authorities are working on both intelligence and a normal police investigation and will try to determine "if there may be any more acts of terrorism like this one being planned. At this point, we don't think there are more acts coming, but we can't say for sure."