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Stockholm Jewish community keeps calm and carries on after terror attack

Shuls closed on the day but normal service quickly resumed

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While there were no known Jewish targets or victims of the terror attack that rocked Stockholm on Friday, the Jewish community cancelled all Shabbat synagogue services and closed its main offices early.

In the wake of the attack, which left four dead and 15 injured, the community said it would “closely monitor the situation”.

The Jewish school and culture centre, Bayit, kept its regular opening hours but with tightened security. With the city on lock-down and all public transport cancelled, many children and staff members were stuck at Bayit on Friday afternoon.

The president of the Jewish Community, Aron Verständig, said in a statement: “I have with great dismay received information about a presumed act of terror in central Stockholm. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. Currently, there are no signs that this is aimed at Jewish targets but our security staff are on alert and we are closely monitoring the situation.”

A 39-year-old Uzbek man is suspected of driving the truck that rammed into crowds of people on a busy shopping street in central Stockholm before crashing into a department store.

The man was later arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences and has reportedly expressed sympathies with the terror group Daesh and the Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir.

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