Stockholm truck attacker pleads guilty as terrorism trial opens
 

STOCKHOLM: An Uzbek asylum seeker who confessed to wanting to mow down ?infidels? in an April 2017 Stockholm truck attack that killed five people pleaded guilty to terrorism charges on Tuesday as his trial opened.
Rakhmat Akilov appeared handcuffed in Stockholm´s special high-security courtroom, wearing green prison clothes and with a shaved head and a beard, accompanied by his lawyer Johan Eriksson.
Akilov, whose Swedish asylum application had been rejected in 2016, had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group on the eve of his assault in one of Europe´s safest cities, though the jihadist group never claimed responsibility.
On the afternoon of Friday, April 7, Akilov stole a beer delivery truck and barrelled down a bustling pedestrian shopping street, swerving wildly to hit as many people as possible. Three Swedes were killed, including an 11-year-old girl, as well as a 41-year-old British man and a 31-year-old Belgian woman. Ten others were injured. Rakhmat ?Akilov took the truck ... and drove it the way the prosecutor described. He killed five people and physically injured 10,? his lawyer Johan Eriksson told the court, adding: ?The lives of a large number of people were put in danger.? ?The motive was to instigate fear and to get Sweden to end its participation in the coalition against the Islamic State,? he added.Akilov, who turns 40 on Wednesday, crashed the truck into the facade of a department store and detonated an explosive device ? made up of five gas canisters and nails ? though it didn´t explode as planned and caused damage only to the truck. He told investigators he had planned to die in the assault.

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