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‘Absolutely incredible’ no-one was seriously injured in Linköping explosion: police

Special police unit NOA (Nationella operativa avdelningen) will reinforce city police in Linköping on Saturday as efforts to clear up Friday morning’s explosion continue.

'Absolutely incredible' no-one was seriously injured in Linköping explosion: police
A police officer near the scene of the explosion in Linköping. Photo: Jeppe Gustafsson/TT

Investigation into Friday's blast, which injured around 20, is set to be extensive.

“It is absolutely incredible that nobody was seriously injured,” police press spokesperson Björn Öberg said.

Police have now limited street closures to the most severely-damaged sites.

“Assistance from NOA will arrive today and we are moving to a phase of pure investigation. It is a comprehensive job to put together all the leads and tip-offs we have had, so it will be a large investigation,” Öberg said.

No arrests have yet been made in connection with the explosion.

“We do not want to commit ourselves to a particular hypothesis,” Öberg said.

The explosion appears to have occurred just outside the apartment building which received the most damage.

That worse casualties did not result is down to pure luck, according to the police spokesperson.

Around 20 people received mild injuries in the explosion on Friday morning, with three being taken to the city’s University Hospital.

“They have splinters and cuts. Two patients are still here,” Region Östergötland medical officer Kim Berg said to press on Friday.

Either gas or explosives could have caused the blast, although explosives appear to be the most likely, Henric Östmark of the Swedish Defence Forces’ (Totalförsvaret) research unit told Corren.

“Most bomb explosions in Sweden in recent times have been smaller (than this),” Östmark said.

“We have to go quite far back in time to find something in Sweden with an explosion of this size,” he added.

Police said on Friday that they do not believe the explosion was linked to terror, but were not ruling anything out.

READ ALSO: Linköping blast: Explosive device blew up outside building

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EXPLOSION

Gothenburg apartment blast suspect found dead

Prosecutors have said that the man suspected as being behind a detonation in Gothenburg last week has been found dead on Wednesday after an apparent suicide.

Police by a Gothenburg pier
Police close to where the suspect's body was found in the water. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT

Named as Mark Lorentzon by Swedish media, the man was suspected of being behind the pre-dawn blast last Tuesday that injured 16 people at the building where he lived.

City workers pulled a body out of a central Gothenburg waterway early Wednesday that “was identified as that of the man sought by police and prosecutors… after the explosion in a building,” prosecutors said in a statement.

They added that suicide was the most plausible cause of death. The man was the subject of an international arrest warrant issued earlier this week.

The suspect, who had been due to be evicted from the building on the day of the explosion, had vanished without a trace.

The blast, which sparked a major fire, landed 16 people in hospital including four with serious injuries, and residents of 140 apartments were evacuated.

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