Sweden apartment bomb blast that injured 16 ‘was carried out by man who was due to be evicted from the building along with his mother on the day of the explosion’
- The man is wanted on suspicion of public destruction but hasn’t been found yet
- Local reports say he is a man in his 50s who lived with his mother in Gothenburg
- Police have revealed they do not believe the blast has any links to gang crime
- Senior police officer said: ‘We still do not know what caused the explosion’
An apartment bomb blast that injured 16 people in Sweden was allegedly carried out by a man who was due to be evicted from the building alongside his mother on the day of the explosion.
The man, who police haven’t identified yet, is wanted on suspicion of public destruction but hasn’t been found.
Swedish media have reported that he was a man in his 50s who lived with his mother in the building in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city.
Senior police officer Anders Borjesson said: ‘We still do not know what caused the explosion. The investigation is far from over.
‘We still have a lot ahead of us.’
Smoke pours out of apartment windows after an explosion struck the apartment block in the city of Gothenburg at around 5am on September 28
Smoke billows out of windows after the explosion in the Annedal area of central Gothenburg
Swedish media quickly focused on the possibility that the explosion could be related to feuding gangs as the country has seen a rise in violence between organised crime groups.
But police have since revealed they do not believe the blast has any links to gang crime.
Borjesson said that the warmth and the lack of oxygen inside the building had made it difficult for the investigators to do their work.
He declined to give details on the suspect.
The property owner had been trying to evict the man and his mother from their apartment, according to daily newspaper Aftonbladet.
And the local Goteborg-Posten newspaper said an eviction was planned for Tuesday, the day the explosion occurred.
Firefighters tackle the blaze on September 28 in Gothenburg
Paramedics take an injured person away on a stretcher
Smoke pours from the building as a fire engine cherry picker helps to extinguish the blaze
Aftonbladet said police had charged the man with several alleged crimes a week before the blast.
The paper also reported that after he was was not allowed to see his mother at a nursing home due to pandemic restrictions, and he had harassed several people, including the owner of the building.
The explosion rocked the building in central Gothenburg early Tuesday and ensuing blazes spread to several apartments, leading to the evacuation of hundreds of residents. At least 140 apartments were damaged.
One of the four people seriously injured remained in intensive care Wednesday, Gothenburg’s main hospital told Swedish broadcaster SVT.