A still shot of Akilov
Photo: AFP
Uzbekistan claims to have told western ally that Stockholm attack suspect was ISIS recruit
The Central Asian nation claims that its representatives warned a yet unnamed western country that Rakhmat Akilov, who is suspected of carrying out the recent vehicular attack in Stockholm, Sweden, was in fact an ISIS recruit.
Uzbekistan's security services warned a western ally before last week's deadly truck attack
in Stockholm that the suspected perpetrator was an ISIS recruit, Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said on Friday.
"Earlier (before the attack—ed), information on Akilov's criminal actions had been passed by security services to one of our western partners so that the Swedish side could be informed."
Kamilov told reporters that Rakhmat Akilov, who had reportedly sympathized with ISIS, had been recruited by the jihadist group after he left the Central Asian nation in 2014 and settled in Sweden.
Passersby running from the attack
"According to the information that we have, he actively urged his compatriots to travel to Syria in order to fight at Islamic State's side," Kamilov said, adding that Akilov had used online messaging services.
Still shot of Akilov, the suspect in the attack (Photo: AFP)
The site of the attack
Kamilov did not identify the intermediary country or organization.
The aftermath of the attack (Photo: AFP)
A spokesman for Sweden's security police declined to comment on Kamilov's statement. The police said last week they had intelligence on Akilov in 2016 that they could not verify.
Photo: Reuters
An Uzbek security source said on Wednesday that Akilov had tried to travel to Syria in 2015 to join ISIS but was detained at the Turkish-Syrian border and deported back to Sweden.
The source added that Uzbekistan authorities had in February put him on a wanted list of people suspected of religious extremism.
