Uzbek man pleads guilty in Stockholm truck attack

STOCKHOLM — A 39-year-old Uzbek man has pleaded guilty to a terrorist crime after ramming a truck into a crowd in Stockholm, killing four people and wounding 15, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The Stockholm District Court ruled Tuesday that police may detain Rakhmat Akilov for a month. After the court hearing, defence lawyer Johan Eriksson said Akilov is “pleading guilty” to Friday’s attack and that his client could remain jailed as long as it takes to resolve the case.

It was not immediately clear when Akilov made his plea. The Stockholm court turned down Akilov’s request for a new defence attorney — a Sunni lawyer — to replace Eriksson.

Police detained Akilov on Friday after he drove the stolen beer truck into a crowd outside an upscale department store in central Stockholm in the afternoon. He was arrested early Saturday.

Police have not given a motive for the attack and no extremist group has claimed responsibility, but Chief Dan Eliasson said that after questioning Akilov, they have become increasingly “convinced that we have the right suspect.”

“This detention order simply reinforces what we already know,” Eliasson said.

Police said Akilov was known to have been sympathetic to extremist organizations, but that there was nothing to indicate he might plan an attack. His Swedish residency application was rejected last year.

The four people killed were two Swedes, a Belgian woman and a British man.