Swedish military forewarned of Stockholm Car Bomb

[TonyGosling]

Car Explosion in Stockholm Leaves One Person Dead, Two Injured, Police Say
By Kim McLaughlin - Dec 11, 2010 - Bloomberg
An explosion in a car in central Stockholm left one person dead today, police spokesman Ulf Goeranzon said by telephone.
Several blasts occured in or around a vehicle parked near the central shopping street Drottningatan at about 5 p.m. local time, Goeranzon said. Police are still investigating the cause of the blasts.
At least two more people were taken to hospital, Goeranzon said. The extent of their injuries was not known.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-11/car-explosion-in-stockholm-le aves-one-person-dead-two-injured-police-say.html

[fish5133]

sweden-terrorists? Or an FBI CIA patsy set up turned live. The photographs dont suggest the explosion was meant to extend much beyond the car-- possible assassination?

Latest report from a swedish police spokesman says a body was found 300m away. This seems strange as the car in the clips seems still intact.

[Mark Gobell]

1899th day of the original Scandanavian cartoons project. (911 + 911 + 77)

Round 2 of the Scandinavian cartoons project, began when the Lars Vilks cartoon, depicting the head of the Prophet Muhammad juxtaposed onto the body of a dog, was published by the Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda on 18.8.2007

Last night's ahem, "car bomb" event on 11.12.2010 marked the 1212 th day of publication or 3 years, 3 months 3 weeks & 3 days > 3333

Round 1 of the project began with the publication of an article in the Danish newspaper Politiken on 17.9.2005, which expressed "profound anxiety about criticism of Islam".

Kurt Westergaard's subsequent cartoon depicting Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, was published in the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten on 30.9.2005. Kurt Westergaard was allegedly attacked at his home by a Somali Muslim on New Year's Day 2010.

Last night's event in Stockholm marked an interval of 11 months and 9 days or 343 days since the Kurt Westergard "attack". (343 = 7 x 7 x 7) and 1911 days since the publication of the original Politiken article.

The publication of the original Danish cartoons in Jyllands-Posten on 30.9.2005 marked 19111 days since the adoption of Section 77 of the Danish Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of expression.

On 10.9.2010 a letter bomb exploded at the Hotel Jørgensen in Copenhagen. Police are reported to have described the letter as intended for Jyllands Posten. This event marked 1119 days since the Lars Vilks cartoon was published in Sweden.

This is the latest act in a drama that has entwined alleged terrorists in Ireland, David Headley and the former Captain in the Pakistan Army, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, in the "Mickey Mouse Project", along with the woeful story of "Jihad Jane", all in the States.

Clearly, those offended by cartoons have much to learn from Israel on how to deal with their artful antagonists. When the wonderfully subversive work of the famous Palestinian cartoonist, Naji Salim al-Ali, became too much of a threat to the Zionazis, he was simply assassinated on the streets of London on 22.7.1987

18 years to the day prior to to the assassination of Jean Charles de Menezes on the streets of London on 22.7.2005 - 911 days after the Metropolitan Police & MI5 signed off and implemented their, then secret, "shoot to kill" policy - Operation Kratos.

You may also recall the assassinations of two Dutch outspoken critics of Islam, Pym Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh. Both murders again separated by the kabbalistic magic number - 911 days.

[TonyGosling]

I heard a radio interview with a Swedish cop today. He said they were treating it as a terrorist incident but, though pressed by the BBC, wouldn't say it was a terrorist attack.

[Disco_Destroyer]

Just a little something to spark the already fervent Scandinavian Nationalism?

[Mark Gobell]

Or a little diversionary vignette to focus on something other than Sweden's faux prosecution of Julian Assange ?

Or, a little taster of things that might happen if Swedish minds are not focussed on the faux prosecution of Julian Assange ?

Either way, 77 days earlier a Boeing 777 was involved in this non event / primer / starter for ten at Stockholm's Arlanda airport - 11 months and 9 days after the, then secret arrest on 16.10.09 of Colleen "Jihad Jane" LaRose on charges including incitement to murder Lars Vilks.

As per the normal template, the usual suspects are behind it: SITE

SITE are the internet version of a supergrass, who in the words of Christy Moore "can remember tings dat never happened at all".

Sweden bomber fulfilled al-Qaeda threat: will

Published: 13 Dec 10 08:35 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.se/30804/20101213/

The perpetrator suspected of carrying out Saturday's bomb attacks in Stockholm claimed in a purported will that he was fulfilling a threat by al-Qaeda in Iraq to attack Sweden, according to a group that tracks the online activity of terrorist organisations on Monday.

* Police search UK home linked to Sweden attacks (13 Dec 10)
* Säpo: unsure if blasts an isolated attack (12 Dec 10)
* Islamist site identifies Stockholm bomber (12 Dec 10)

"[The] Islamic State [of Iraq] has fulfilled what it promised you," Taymour Abdel Wahab allegedly wrote in the will posted by a jihadist on the Shumukh al-Islam website, according to the SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entities) Intelligence Group, a US-based for-profit entity.

The Swedish capital was hit by twin explosions on Saturday -- a suspected suicide attack and separate blast -- targeting Christmas shoppers in a busy pedestrian area of the city. A man investigators suspect may have been the bomber was killed, while the other explosion nearby injured two people.

Shumukh al-Islam named Abdel Wahab as the man responsible for the blasts, although Sweden's intelligence agency Säpo has refused to comment on the claim.

The late chief of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, had called in an audio message in September 2007 for reprisals in Sweden for the cartoons of Islam's prophet Mohammed by Swedish artist Lars Vilks.

Baghdadi also offered cash for killing the cartoonist and named Swedish companies such as Ericsson, Ikea and Volvo as potential targets to harm Sweden's economy.

British media reported on Monday that Wahab had studied at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton, around 50 kilometres northwest of London, and had been living in the town in recent years. His wife and children were reportedly still living in Luton, The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph reported.


Note: you might like to refresh your mind about the phantom Abu Omar al-Baghdadi who probably never existed in the first place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Abdullah_al-Rashid_al-Baghdadi

So, Sweden refuses to confirm much at all, leaving the story to be created out of thin air by the media from social networking resources and impenetrable Jihadi websites and now neatly provide an alleged link to Luton.

Complete with a juvenile "computer generated" sounding voice in an audio recording.

Since when did Al Q phone in bomb warnings ?

English and Swedish versions ?

Give me a break.

[Mark Gobell]

The most prominent terrorism expert in Sweden is a chap called Magnus Ranstorp.

He's been quoted in a few press reports about the Stockholm incident.

He's also an ex student of the RAND / St Andrews nexus - the CSTPV.

After the former CSTPV Director Paul Wilkinson, approved Mr Ranstrop's PhD, he quickly rose through the ranks to become a Director there for a while.

More here

It's the RAND / St Andrews axis of evil, that we can all thank for the Terrorism Act 2000.

Lord Lloyd of Berwick's Tory mandated terrorism review, accepted or sub-contracted Dr. Paul Wilkinson's report as the template for volume 2 of his review, which became, in essence the entire framework for TACT2000, part funded by the former Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations Energy Security Group with the ubiquitous Dr Bruce Hoffman seconded from RAND.

Small world this terrorism business.

[Mark Gobell]

http://swedenisrael.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html

[Mark Gobell]

Sweden bomber 'friendly' immigrant turned radical

Published: 13 Dec 10 15:40 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.se/30818/20101213/

The man suspected of being the suicide bomber behind two Stockholm bombings on Saturday was described on Monday as an ordinary friendly young immigrant to Sweden who drastically changed after moving to the UK to study.

* Suicide bomber was 'unknown' to Säpo (13 Dec 10)
* Bomber believed to be former sports student (12 Dec 10)
* Islamist site identifies Stockholm bomber (12 Dec 10)

Sweden's top prosecutor "confirmed 98 percent" that "the man who blew himself up" in a busy pedestrian quarter of the Swedish capital following a car explosion, was Taymour Abdel Wahab.

The Al-Qaeda-linked website Shumukh al-Islam on Sunday had named him as the bomber. Media reports said that Wahab, who was born in Iraq but became a Swedish citizen in 1992, staged the attack on the eve of his 29th birthday.

He had lived in Britain for a number of years, prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said, adding that his wife and three children still lived there.

Reports in Britain said his wife is called Umm Amira, known as Mona, and runs a company called Amira Makeup and Hair, which offers services including bridal make-up and hair styling.

When he was about 10, Wahab and his family reportedly fled war-torn Iraq to settle in Tranås, population 18,000, some 200 kilometres south of Stockholm.

"From Tranås to Jihad," said Monday's Expressen tabloid, which published a full-page photo of a young, smiling Wahab wearing a typical Swedish high school graduation cap.

It said Wahab had grown up in "a light red house" in Tranås with his mother, father and two sisters, adding that the family had no problems adjusting to life in Sweden.

"He was just like any other young man. He loved life, he had lots of friends and was out and partied just like anyone else," acquaintance and Tranås resident Jean Jalabian told Expressen.

"He drank alcohol and had girlfriends. It's really strange that he would do something like that," Jalabian said.

Meanwhile, rival tabloid Aftonbladet described "the terrorist from Tranås" as a family-oriented basketball player with a lot of friends beneath a smiling school picture of him.

A former teacher told Aftonbladet the young man spoke excellent Swedish and was "an honest, friendly person with many friends."

However, Abdel Wahab drastically changed when he left Sweden in 2001 to complete a bachelor's degree in sports physiotherapy at the University of Luton -- now the University of Bedfordshre, from which he graduated in 2004.

Wahab became interested in radical Islam in the town just north of London, where he met his wife, reportedly the same age as him and also a Swedish citizen.

"He got to know an Egyptian imman at the mosque in Luton," a friend of the family told Expressen, adding that during his time there "he became another person. It's hard to say how. He changed and became more restrictive."

When he returned to Sweden in 2005, he had a beard, cut contact with his old friends and led a withdrawn life. He never settled back into Swedish life and went back to Britain, only sporadically visiting his family in Tranås.

Aftonbladet said he showed his new opinions online, posting radical religious view on the war on Iraq and calling for a boycott of Denmark on his Facebook page in Arabic.

His status updates were often prayers and he had uploaded videos with Islamist messages to his page, the tabloid said.

He was also searching for a new wife "who accepts Allah's religion and who is not against me having another wife" on a Muslim contact website, Expressen wrote.

In November, he bought the car which he blew up on Saturday, slightly injuring two people, investigators said, after returning to Sweden a few weeks before.

In a threat he sent Swedish news agency TT and intelligence agency Säpo, Abdel Wahab asked his family for forgiveness for lying to them.

"I never went to the Middle East to work or make money. "I went there for jihad. It wouldn't have been possible to tell you who I really was. It wasn't very easy to live the last four years with the secret of being...as you call it, a terrorist," he said.

Ends:

Amira Makeup & Hair

Umm Amira aka Mona Thwany

15, Argyll Avenue, Luton, Bedfordshire LU3 1EG

Tel: 07853 885141

Currently going to voice mail.

amiramakeup@hotmail.co.uk

[Wakeymedia]

The tried and tested "Strategy Of Tension"

See "Operation Gladio" and read the Wikipedia page on the subject here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_of_tension

Divide and conquer.

[insidejob]

http://www.thelocal.se/30794/20101212/
Military staffer knew about attacks: report
Published: 12 Dec 10 20:06 CET |

A Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten) employee warned an acquaintance to stay clear of an area in central Stockholm on Saturday where, several hours later, two explosions went off in what is being called a terrorist attack.

“If you can, avoid Drottninggatan today. A lot can happen there…just so you know,” the message said, according to the TT news agency.

Armed Forces spokesperson Jonas Svensson told TT on Sunday he was unaware of the message.

“I haven’t heard about this at all. Now I’m going to check out the information,” he told TT when confronted with the news.

Later the Swedish military said it was now “preparing how the issue will be dealt with”.

“The Swedish Armed Forces did not know ahead of time about the plans or the circumstances surrounding the events which have taken place. If that had been the case, (Swedish security service) Säpo, which is the responsible agency in these types of cases, would have been informed immediately,” said military spokesperson Erik Lagersten in a statement.

Swedish intelligence agencies may have known that something was in the works, Wilhelm Agrell, a professor in intelligence analysis, told TT.

“A warning is a slippery term and nothing concrete. Warnings can consist of very precise information that can be acted on, but it’s common that warnings are more diffuse and can’t be acted on,” Agrell said.

On Saturday night, TT spoke with John Daniels, head of security for Swedish military intelligence agency MUST. But he refused to comment, instead directing all inquiries to Säpo.

Säpo said on Sunday it was taking over the investigation of the two blasts, which occurred within minutes of one another and about 200 metres apart on Drottninggatan, a busy shopping street in central Stockholm.

The agency considers the explosions to be a terrorist crime.

One man believed to be a suicide bomber was killed in the second blast, while the first explosion injured two others.

Shortly before the explosions, Säpo and the TT news agency received a message from a 29-year-old man from southern Sweden who claimed that the prophet Mohammed was being degraded.
TT/The Local/dl (news@thelocal.se)

[TonyGosling]

Well how about that!
Just more basket-case fake terror BS then.
How cowardly these 'internal security service' murderers have become.
And how limp and brainless the media that reports these theatrically staged terror spectacles.

[insidejob]

I saw this story on Indymedia earlier today. It's now been removed.

[redadare]

[TonyGosling]

Swedish spokesperson did his best to explain 'how close we came' with no cross examination from brain dead Kirsty Wark on Newsnight tonight - he's Sweden's number one Bilderberger ... Carl Bildt.

Nobody, it appears, has told dimwit Kirsty that Carl is a financial terrorist agent of the IMF/Fed/ECB crime cartel.

[TonyGosling]

[Mark Gobell]

[Mark Gobell]

Swedes in shock at King Carl Gustaf sex scandal

Sweden has been shocked by revelations about their quietly dignified King.

By Harriet Alexander and Marcus Oscarsson 5:54PM GMT 06 Nov 2010

Five months ago, the Swedish royal family was the toast of Europe. All eyes were trained on Stockholm as the glamorous Crown Princess Victoria wed her long-time boyfriend in a fairy-tale ceremony, and the world's press clamoured for a glimpse of the elegant Swedish royals and their regal guests.

Now the international media is again camped outside the gates of Stockholm's Drottningholm Palace – but this time for far less congratulatory reason.

Revelations last week that the King of Sweden once enjoyed romps in seedy nightclubs owned by shadowy underworld figures have eclipsed the sparkle of July's wedding. King Carl XVI Gustaf, the stern-looking, bespectacled monarch who is honorary chairman of the World Scout Foundation, has found himself thrust uncomfortably in the spotlight following the publication of an unflinching book, Carl XVI Gustaf – Den motvillige monarken (Carl XVI Gustaf – The reluctant monarch) which catalogues his past predilection for wild, alcohol-fuelled orgies and naked jacuzzi parties with models.

Related Articles

* Swedish prince dating topless model 08 Apr 2010

The book has caused uproar and dominated the country's media, leading to nationwide soul-searching about the 64-year-old King's role, reputation and right to privacy.

"Strip clubs, illegal clubs, rented ladies who are naked under their fur coats. Women were simply desserts, used as sweets to be served with the coffee," wrote Katrine Kielos in the daily Aftonbladet newspaper.

"The royal family has always been viewed as an august, fabulous family. But these allegations are so grave that our trust in them is seriously damaged," said Jenny Madestam, a political analyst. "The King is not even denying it."

Indeed, the King's bizarre press conference on Thursday – held in a forest after an elk hunt – only served to fan the flames of interest.

"I have spoken with my family and the Queen and we choose to turn the page and move forward because, as I understand, these are things that happened a long time ago," he said – standing in a field, still dressed in his wax jacket and hunting clothes, among a sea of camera crews and reporters.

His handling of the book's publication has shocked some observers.

"Now is the time for the King to be quiet and give no comments. Instead, he says yes to a press conference in the middle of the forest where anything can happen. It is like playing Russian roulette," said Paul Ronge, a PR expert, in the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper.

"His statement can be interpreted as a confession. It is beneath his dignity to even comment a gossip book about his private life. Now the plug is gone and the papers can print page after page with material from the book.

"For the royal court to handle the issue like kindergarten behaviour, without responsibility is very serious".

Indeed, the allegations that the king frequented Mafia-run clubs and used the state police to hide the evidence are extremely serious.

The book's authors, Thomas Sjöberg, Tove Meyer and Deanne Rauscher, spent two years unpicking the complicated story behind the throne.

"He was only 27 when he took office, in the midst of his bachelor years, with girls, booze and 'the lads'," they wrote.

"Then he suddenly became king, and had to promise the people to be a loving father. It was a totally unreasonable promise that he stood and gave in the state room."

Mr Sjöberg, a leading interviewer and investigative journalist, originally decided to look into the rumours of a dark private life that had long been muttered in Swedish society – enlisting the help of researcher Tove Meyer and former social worker Deanne Rauscher.

Together they set about lifting the veil of secrecy that hung over the palace.

"That was what I originally wanted to find out: how could such a young king handle a role he has not been allowed to grow into?" said Mr Sjöberg.

It was Ms Rauscher who interviewed many of the women who had been involved with the King.

From her two-bedroom antique-filled flat in Stockholm's upmarket Östermalm area, Ms Rauscher pieced together the testimonies of the women who had partied with the playboy monarch - including Camilla Henemark, a Swedish-Nigerian pop singer and model who had a year-long affair with the King in the late 1990s.

The authors write that the King "had fallen in love like a teenager" and that the Queen, his wife since 1976, knew about the affair but was powerless to stop it.

In an interview before her relationship with the King was known, Ms Henemark spoke of her spiral into depression around the end of the affair.

"It had been a party all the time and lots of champagne and money," she said.

When her modelling and pop career faded, she said: "I became distant and drank constantly. I sank deeper and deeper into depression and hated the world.

"I was thinking about suicide."

Last week Mr Sjöberg and Ms Rauscher took to a houseboat, sheltering one of the women who revealed details of her trysts with the King.

"It has been very stressful," Ms Rauscher told The Sunday Telegraph.

The authors also uncovered evidence of how a Serbian gangster, Mille Markovic, hosted parties for the King and his friends at an underground club in Stockholm, below the National Police Department.

Mr Markovic described how the club had a jacuzzi inside, and the girls invited to the parties "threw off their clothes and sat in the men's laps".

In the evenings the women were assigned their rooms. "It was not formally mandatory, but there were name signs on the doors showing who was going to sleep with whom", said one of the women.

Mr Markovic told a Swedish newspaper yesterday: "I've got live evidence. The entire world will see. This is no fake but real facts. I can prove every single thing."

But perhaps one of the most intriguing elements of the scandal, for those outside the Scandanavian country, is how the Swedish population have reacted.

Over 80 per cent say that the lurid allegations have not changed their perception of the King – and almost 50 per cent say that it is wrong for journalists to look into the private lives of their royal family.

Upon hearing about the book, producers an investigative news programme met with the authors - only to decide that they weren't interested in investigating the royal family.

Thomas Sjöberg, the book's author, admits that the royal family are seen as being above criticism.

"If it would have been the PM, he would be forced to resign the following day," he said.

"There would be a public outcry, severe political consequences for Sweden, political chaos and a constitutional crisis."

But despite the media whirlwind, Swedes seem very relaxed about their head of state's behaviour.

"All the negative PR experts commenting on the King's meeting with the press are totally wrong," said Brita Svensson, a royal correspondent.

"It was no fiasco, no disaster, not unprofessional nor a huge embarrassment. It was completely brilliant. Carl XVI Gustaf was himself.

"The King is ruling. Half of all Swedes say they have very good or good faith in the King. That is a sensational result for a 'Reluctant Monarch'."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/8114740/Swedes -in-shock-at-King-Carl-Gustaf-sex-scandal.html

[Mark Gobell]

Day 4 and it seems that, ahem, "Sweden's first suicide bomber" has not been positively identified yet:

[TonyGosling]

Interesting bit of insight here into the warped mentality of the main UK Indymedia gatekeeper. Gloating over his protection of what appears to be an Operation Gladio fascist operation in Sweden

[Mark Gobell]

Flashback: 17 August 2009

Israel accuses Swede of "blood libel" over article in Aftonbladet accusing Israel's IDF of harvesting human organs.

Aftonbladet - Våra söner plundras på sina organ Translation: Our sons are plundered for their organs.

Jerusalem Post - 10,000 urge boycott of Ikea, Volvo

[Mark Gobell]

The date of the event in Stockholm, 11.12.2010 is 9 months and the 11th day of the anniversary of the death of Sweden's Prime Minister Olaf Palme on 1st March (1986) after he was assassinated on 28.2.1986.

[Mark Gobell]

And as if by magic ....

Islamic extremism 'a threat' to Sweden: Säpo

[Mark Gobell]

Sweden votes to extend Afghanistan mission

Published: 16 Dec 10 08:27 CET

Swedish lawmakers in the country's parliament, the Riksdag, voted on Wednesday to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan until the end of 2011.

http://www.thelocal.se/30880/20101216/

Nothing like some faux terrorism and an alleged email from the alleged perp, mentioning Afghanistan to focus the mind eh.

The car fire in Stockholm on 11.12.2010 occurred on the day that marked exactly 88 months into NATO's lead of the ISAF mandate of 11.8.2003 and 111 months since 9/11

[Mark Gobell]

Audio recording allegedly attached to an email allegedly sent to Swedish news agency:

New York Times Full version (MP3)

This chap is supposed to be aged 29.

Is it me or ....

[Mark Gobell]

Suicide bomber in central Stockholm

Local News | 2010-12-11 | 121 comments

(Updated 4, Sunday 14:10)

A man blew himself up in the middle of the holiday rush in central Stockholm.

A car exploded at the busy shopping street Drottninggatan in central Stockholm. Then there was another explosion some distance away when a man blown himself to death. He carried six interconnected pipe bombs but only one exploded. He also had a backpack full of nails, according to newspaper Aftonbladet.

Alarm calls started to pour in to the Emergency Services from concerned residents after the explosions in central Stockholm on Saturday afternoon. But the initial information from the police was very unclear, it described two car explosions, but later it proved to be only one.

“A car at street Olof Palmes gata has exploded, we got the alarm at two minutes over five o'clock PM. Two minutes later, we received yet another alarm about an explosion from street Bryggargatan some distance away," said Ulf Göranzon, at the Stockholm Police.

A man was found dead at the place of the second explosion.

Shouted in Arabic

Police bomb technicians examined the dead man's bag by using a bomb robot.

Radiographs show that it contained a large quantity of nails and an unknown substance which is suspected to be explosives.

At least four ambulances were sent to the scene. Two people were taken to hospital with minor injuries, they had been in the vicinity of the explosions.

According to witnesses, the man shouted something in Arabic before the bomb detonated.

The Swedish news agency TT reports that both them and the Swedish Security Service received a email with an audio-file only ten minutes before the explosions.

In the audio-clip a man addresses "Sweden and the Swedish people". He refers to the Swedish silence on artist Lars Vilks paintings of the muslim prophet Mohammed, the Swedish soldiers in Afghanistan, saying that "now shall your children, daughters and sisters die like our brothers and sisters and children are dying."

Security Service: “A terrorist crime”

When the Security Service and the Stockholm Police held a press conference on Sunday, yesterday's bombings were officially entitled a terrorist crime.

The Security Service would not confirm that the email that came just before the blasts are linked to the attacks, but says that it is one of the things that are examined.

The Security Service also states that they do not raise the threat level in response to yesterday's events. The threat level was raised on October 1 from level two three, from “low” to “increased”, on a scale of five.

The Stockholm Police is now to increase its "presence and visibility" at shopping malls and other public places. The police also asked the public to report observations.

According to the Security Service, the Council Against Terrorism may be called to a meeting during the day. The Council is a forum for cooperation between fourteen Swedish authorities, among else the Office of the Public Prosecutor, the National Criminal Investigation Department, and the Armed Forces.

David Jonasson
david.jonasson@stockholmnews.com

[Mark Gobell]

Stockholm News article from 2 days earlier:

Intelligence agency leaking info on Swedes

National News | 2010-12-09 | 1 comment

The Swedish authority for signals intelligence, FRA, is leaking lots of information about Swedish citizens to foreign intelligence services, without reviewing the entire content. This is stated in a email to the Parliamentary Committee of Signals Intelligence.

There are large defects in the privacy protections for Swedish citizens when Försvarets Radioanstalt (FRA) exchanges information with foreign intelligence agencies. This writes one person who says his name is “Lars Larsson”, an employee at the FRA, in an email to the Parliamentary Committee of Signals Intelligence, according to IT paper Ny Teknik.

In the email "Lars" indicates that there are no full review of the information exchanged between the FRA and the intelligence agencies of other countries.

Thus, data on ordinary Swedish citizen, their emails, phone calls, contacts and social networks could get into the hands of foreign intelligence. This may be against the law on protection of personal data. The agency is also accused for eavesdropping on journalists and aid workers.

Cooperation with the NSA

The FRA continuously and extensively exchange intelligence with other countries, writes Ny Teknik. In the first instance with the U.S. and its mighty NSA, the National Security Agency.

The Swedish signals intelligence agency is using the search terms of its international partners, but do not review, according to "Lars", all gathered content that they pass along. The quantities are too large.

The FRA however do some filtering and small random controls, but according to "Lars", not only violates the personal integrity of Swedish citizens, the agency could also be passing along information that may damage Swedish interests.

The signal intelligence agency is also stated to be exposed to heavy international pressure to start with offensive signals intelligence, i.e. to not only listen to traffic, but to commit hacking into networks and computers. Currently, the FRA is not allowed to do this.

Lack of functioning procedures

The Swedish Data Inspection Board partly confirms the allegations put forward. In a recent review of the FRA they found lack of functioning procedures to screen out the traffic that is not allowed to be intercepted and stored.

"There is no guarantee that it does not happen," Nick Hjertonsson, audit manager at the Data Inspection Board, told the newspaper Aftonbladet.

The FRA recognizes that some of the information in the mail is correct, but that many of the conclusions are wrong. They would not comment on allegations of eavesdropping on aid workers and journalists.

“It is confidential. But I can say that we produce intelligence that will support the Swedish troops abroad, that monitor human rights compliance in certain areas of the world, or relating to WMD proliferation,” said Matt Lindholm, press secretary at the FRA.

Facts:

The debate about the “FRA-law” was heated in 2008 after the government had proposed for allowing the FRA to warrantlessly wire-tap all telephone and Internet traffic that crosses Sweden's borders. The proposal was approved, with certain modifications, and commenced on December 1 2009.

[Mark Gobell]

[Mark Gobell]

Bomber's explosives identified with FBI help

Published: 16 Dec 10 14:11 CET
Updated: 16 Dec 10 17:24 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.se/30896/20101216/

Swedish investigators theorise that equipment problems may have caused the Stockholm suicide bomber to divert to a side street, potentially saving many lives. They also claim to have identified explosive material used in the attack.

“We’re trying to create a 100 percent picture of what happened. One thesis we’re working on is that he had some sort of problem with the equipment and therefore headed toward Bryggargatan,” Anders Thornberg of the Swedish security service Säpo told reporters on Wednesday.

Thornberg stressed that this was just a theory, pointing out that the investigation is still in its initial stage.

"We are not ruling anything out and we are holding all doors open ... We don't want to get locked into any specific lead," he said.

The bomber, strongly believed to be Taymour Abdulwahab, blew himself up on the much less crowded street, just metres from its intersection with Drottninggatan, a bustling pedestrian street lined with shops and eateries.

"Our current picture of the final movements of the bomber was that he had trouble exploding the device and was therefore moving back and forth close to the street where he was found," Jan Garton, a security chief with intelligence agency Säpo, told AFP.

Investigators have so far refused officially to confirm the identity of Saturday's bomber, since DNA results from Wednesday's autopsy have yet to be released, but have not denied other reports that it was Abdelwahab.

Thornberg said formal identification should be clear "within days."

Investigators also revealed that, aided by explosives experts from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), they have identified the type of explosive used in the blasts.

The investigation into the attack is moving forward, deputy prosecutor Agnetha Hilding Qvarnström told reporters.

“Tips are coming in, a lot of people want to provide information and our analysts are working on it. We’ve secured material from two locations. It will take a little time because the explosive material must be analysed,” she said.

“At the moment, we think we know what sort of explosive was used.”

Hilding Qvarnström, who is heading up the preliminary investigation into the suicide bombing, said than an autopsy had been carried out on the body of the bomber.

However, she refused to divulge any of the findings from the autopsy.

Police have yet to determine if the bomber had any helpers, and police and prosecutors refused Thursday to reveal details of the investigation.

"One important priority of the investigation is to know whether he was alone or wether he had accomplices. That's all I can say for now," was all Garton would say.

“We expect the work to continue for a long time. We have a large number of resources at our disposal. We’re working with expert authorities in Sweden in an effort to get a comprehensive picture of the bomb,” Anders Thornberg of Swedish security agency Säpo told reporters.

“We’ve examined the bomb site and the car and had made a number of interesting discoveries. I can’t go into what they are.”

Thornberg explained that tests revealed the bombs didn’t contain any radioactive material, but that analysis of the material continued. He added that the sound file attached to an email sent by the bomber minutes before the bombing is being analyzed, as is footage from surveillance cameras.

According to Thornberg, Swedish police and their partners are “doing everything we can to make it safe to spend time in Sweden.”

Jan Garton of Säpo reiterated to reporters in Stockholm Thursday that the current terrorism threat level, which was raised in October to "elevated" would not be raised further for the time being.

"At this point in time we have no reason to adjust our terror threat to Sweden or to Swedish interests," he said.

A group of around 500 Shia Muslims meanwhile marched throw a Stockholm snow storm Thursday afternoon to comdemn the attack, carrying signs stating "No place for terrorists" and "Peace, Peace, Peace."

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