Stockholm bomber: police fear accomplice is on the loose
Police in Sweden are increasingly convinced the Stockholm bomber had an accomplice after fresh analysis of his suicide tape revealed the presence of a second person by his side.
Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly with one of his children
Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly's wife Mona on her graduation day
Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly's children Amira, four, Aisha, two, and Osama, six months
Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly and his wife Mona on their wedding day
Iraqi-born Abdulwahab, who killed himself the day before his 29th birthday, grew up in the small town of Tranas, south of Stockholm Photo: AFP
By Martin Evans, in Tranas 2:32PM GMT 16 Dec 2010
Experts who have scrutinised the recording say someone can be heard breathing in the background as Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly vows to kill innocent civilians.
Almost a week after Abdulwahab blew himself up in a shopping street in Stockholm, injuring two people, detectives have also failed to find any trace of explosives in properties linked to the bomber, suggesting someone else could have made the bombs at an unknown location.
Police hope that if the bomber did meet an accomplice in the days before the bombing, the rendezvous might have been caught on CCTV. Hundreds of hours of recordings from CCTV cameras in Stockholm and his home town of Tranas have been seized and are now being scrutinised by investigators.
Johan Ohgren, a sound analyst who has examined the suicide tapes recorded by Abdulwahab in Swedish and Arabic, said: “In the Swedish file it is rather clear that someone is inhaling at the same time as he is speaking.
“I would say that means there are two people, as you can’t inhale and speak at the same time.”
Mr Ohgren added that the sound of someone clearing their throat on one of the recordings also appeared to come from a second person, as it overlaps Abdulwahab’s voice. “I am very confident that there are two people,” he said.
Photographs taken at the spot where the bomber blew himself up showed a walkie-talkie lying on the ground which police believe he was carrying. One theory is that he was using it to keep in touch with an accomplice who might have been close enough to see him, though it is also possible he had adapted the device for use as a remote controlled detonator for a rucksack bomb he had with him.
Swedish investigators are understood to be particularly troubled by the fact that they have found no trace of a “bomb factory” in their searches of Abdulwahab’s home in Luton and family addresses in Sweden. All of the properties have tested negative for explosives, suggesting three bombs used by Abdulwahab – a car bomb, a rucksack bomb and his suicide belt – were assembled elsewhere, possibly by an assistant.
Anders Thornberg, of the Sapo security police, said his officers were now “investigating whether there could have been someone else involved in the preparations”. Meanwhile a close friend of the family who has spoken to Abdulwahab’s father, Thamer, said: “The family are absolutely devastated by what has happened. They are thinking about leaving Sweden because they don't feel they can stay here now.
“Taimur's older sister Tamara has not dared go back to work and his 16-year-old sister Tara has stayed home from school. “They are worried there might be a backlash from right wing extremists.”
