3 killed & many injured after truck drives into pedestrians, crashes into Stockholm dept store

Three people have been killed and many injured after a truck drove into pedestrians on a Stockholm street before crashing into a department store, police have confirmed. Authorities say they are treating the incident as a possible terrorist attack.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says that all details indicate the incident was a “terrorist attack.” 

The suspect has been detained, Lofven told a news conference. However, Swedish police have said that no one has been arrested in connection with the attack, according to Reuters.

A witness by the name of Dimitris told Aftonbladet that he saw at least two people run over by the vehicle.

A separate witness told RT that he "saw at least three bodies that were covered with blankets and probably already dead." He added that he could see smoke and fire, calling the incident a "really awful situation." 

He went on to state that he was about to leave for lunch at the time of the attack, noting that "if I had been 15 seconds earlier I probably would have been dead right now..."

Swedish police have issued a warning to avoid Stockholm’s city center. All Stockholm subway services have been shut down, according to TT news agency.

The city's central train station has also been evacuated.

All Swedish government offices have been closed following the attack, and all ministers are safe, a source told Reuters.

Facebook has activated its safety check for people in the Stockholm area.

Footage posted on Twitter shows panicked pedestrians fleeing the scene.

“I saw hundreds of people run, they ran for their lives,” a witness by the name of Anna told the newspaper, adding that she also fled the scene.

A worker at Åhlens department store said the truck drove into the store’s perfume department. He said an alarm went off inside the store and everyone was asked to leave the building, SVT reported.

A photo posted online shows the truck after it crashed into the department store, with the caption stating that the vehicle came from a direction in which trucks are not allowed.

Radio Sweden is also reporting that the truck caught fire after crashing into the department store. 

Helicopters are circling above the area, a witness told SVT.

@AmichaiStein1#BREAKING: Swedish police say a truck has driven into crowds injuring people on a main shopping street in central #Stockholm

The area has been cordoned off by police. Authorities were alerted at 2:53pm local time, according to SVT.

@franki_kuka #Periscope: Crazy stuff in #Stockholm, #dead people, https://www.pscp.tv

An employee at the nearby Stockholm Inn hotel told RT that hotel employees and guests are being “informed to stay in here because it's not over yet.” She added that she has not heard any shots fired.

Swedish brewery Spendrups has reportedly said that one of its trucks was hijacked earlier on Friday.

The scene is near the site of a December 2010 attack which saw a man rig a car with explosives, in an effort to drive people to Drottninggatan - where the Friday incident took place. From there, he planned to set off devices strapped to his chest and back. The car bomb never went off, and the attacker died when one of his devices detonated. Two others were injured. 

The Friday incident comes less than three weeks after an attacker plowed a truck into pedestrians in London, killing four people. One police officer was also fatally stabbed by the attacker.

An attacker also smashed a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin in December, killing 12 people.

Last July, an attacker in Nice, France, plowed a truck into pedestrians during a Bastille Day celebration, killing 86 people.