Stockholm bombing close to catastrophic

Mr Bildt said 28-year-old Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was heading towards crowds of Christmas shoppers when explosives he was carrying apparently went off prematurely.

The Swedish authorities are working closely with their UK counterparts to investigate the attack, in which al-Abdaly was killed and two other people injured.

The Iraq-born graduate of Bedfordshire University left his wife and three children at their family home in Luton to travel to Sweden several weeks ago.

In a BBC television interview last night, Mr Bildt said investigators were making an