Suspect was an IS sympathiser

The suspected Stockholm truck attacker had shown interest in extremist groups and was facing deportation after being refused residency, Swedish police said yesterday.

A second suspect has meanwhile been formally placed under arrest in connection with the attack that killed four people and injured 15 others, the Stockholm district court said.

The news came as thousands of people gathered under sunny spring skies amid a sea of flowers and candles to honour the dead and to stand against terrorism.

The first suspect, identified only as a 39-year-old man from Uzbekistan who was arrested hours after Friday's attack, is suspected of having sped a stolen beer truck several hundred metres (yards) down the bustling pedestrian street Drottninggatan in the heart of Stockholm.

The motive for the attack was not known, but the method resembled previous attacks using vehicles in Nice, Berlin and London, all of them claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the Stockholm attack. The 39-year-old suspect in the Stockholm attack "showed interest for extremist organisations like IS," police chief Jonas Hysing told reporters.

The suspect had also been due to be expelled from Sweden after his residency application was rejected last year.

Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman Karin Rosander said meanwhile that the second suspect was arrested "on suspicion of a terrorist crime (by committing) murder", the same accusation as against the first suspect.

No other details about the person were disclosed.