The man who mowed down pedestrians with a truck, killing five, in Stockholm last April had pledged allegiance to Islamic State and had planned his attack for months, prosecutors said in charges filed on Tuesday.
Uzbekistan-born Rakhmat Akilov, who was on the run from Swedish authorities after his asylum application was turned down, said in online conversations cited by the prosecutor that he wanted to “run over unbelievers”.
He has been charged with committing a terrorist act and other crimes. Prosecutors have called for a life sentence in a trial due to begin next month.
Akilov had asked in online conversations for practical advice on building a bomb and for spiritual guidance ahead of a “martyr operation”, the charges filed with a Stockholm court alleged.
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