Uzbekistan: We Had Warned the West About the Stockholm Attack Perpetrator

Uzbek officials say that Rahmat Akilov, the perpetrator of last week's deadly attack in Stockholm, Sweden, was connected to militants from the group known as 'Islamic State' and that warnings about him had previously been issued to Western countries. According to AFP, Abdulaziz Kamilov, the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, on Friday, April 14, referred to the recent terrorist incident in Sweden and its perpetrator, who is a citizen of Uzbekistan, stating that this individual had turned to extremist groups after entering Sweden in 2014, and that Uzbekistan's security services had transferred information they obtained about him to the West. Kamilov stated, 'During his time abroad, he connected with members of the terrorist group Islamic State via the internet and was recruited by this group... and during this time, he actively encouraged his compatriots to go to Syria and participate in military operations of this group.' The Prime Minister of Uzbekistan then emphasized that his country had conveyed all information related to Rahmat Akilov's unlawful actions through security agencies to Uzbekistan's Western partners so they could inform Sweden as well. However, a spokesperson for the Swedish Foreign Ministry, who spoke with AFP, stated that 'Stockholm had not received such information.' Meanwhile, Swedish police officials, after the arrest of Rahmat Akilov, mentioned that they had received information about him a year prior, but during that time, they were unable to uncover any connection between him and extremist groups. Rahmat Akilov, 39, who is in police custody in Sweden, has confessed to 'committing a terrorist act.' He attacked pedestrians in a busy street in Stockholm last Friday with a truck carrying beer. This attack left four victims.