Stockholm suicide bomber aspired to jihad

Taimour-Abdulwahab.jpg

Swedish suicide bomber Taimour Abdulwahab, after his death.

In the hours since the suicide and car bomb attacks in downtown Stockholm yesterday, more information has emerged about the car used in the attack and identity of the suicide bomber, who killed only himself in the explosions. The vehicle, which had been loaded with canisters of gas, belonged to the bomber, and a well-trafficked jihadist forum has announced his identity.

The Shumukh al-Islam jihadist forum confirmed the identity of the suicide bomber as Taimour Abdulwahab in a statement released today on their website.

“It is our brother, mujahid Taimour Abdulwahab, who carried out the martyrdom operation in Stockholm,” said the website Shumukh al-Islam.

Swedish police confirmed that the owner of the car used in the bombing has been identified as Taimour Abdulwahab, born Dec. 12, 1981; today would be his 29th birthday, according to Swedish journalist Per Gudmundson. The car was purchased as late as November of this year.

There was an R.I.P. page on Facebook for Abdulwahab, created earlier today, noting he “died an heros dead in Stockholm” on Dec. 11. Abdulwahab’s own Facebook page, which appeared under the nom de guerre “Taimour Al-Abdaly,” is replete with references to militant Islam and videos from Iraq and Chechnya, and listed “favorites” include “Islamic Caliphate State” and Sheikh Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi, the radical Jordanian cleric and mentor of Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Within the past few hours, both Facebook pages have been taken down.

One of the links on Abdulwahab’s Facebook page shows photos of him in what appears to be Jordan.

The warning emailed to Swedish authorities shortly before the bombing yesterday contained a request for forgiveness from the plotter’s family for deluding them about a recent trip to the Middle East; the trip was made for terrorist training purposes.

“I never went to the Middle East to work or earn money. I went there for Jihad,” he stated.

More information about Abdulwahab pops up on a Muslim dating website, which contains statements in both Arabic and English. An excerpt reads as follows: “I was born in Baghdad, Iraq. We moved to Sweden in 1992. I moved to UK 2001 to study. I have Bacholar degree in physical therapy. I am married sence 2004 and have 2 girls. One is 3.6 and the second is 1.6 years old. I want to get married again, and would like to have a BIG family. My wife agreed to….”

Abuldwahab studied at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton, England, from 2001-2004, obtaining a degree in Sports Therapy. It is possible that while in Luton he was in contact with the infamous “Luton cell” that was active at the time. According to The Local, a Swedish newspaper in English, there may be some connection between the Stockholm bomber and the Islamic extremist community in Luton, which has been linked to al Qaeda and the London Tube bombings of 2005.

Swedish authorities have condemned yesterday’s bombings as an incidence of terrorism and are conducting an investigation as to the origins, extent, and perpetrators of the plot.

21 Comments

  • Charu says:

    Well, he killed himself and no one else, so he is a “heros dead”. And no BIG family legacy… Darwin rules!

  • 4lulz says:

    the RIP group is a hoax; its a troll group by trolls. their use of “an hero” and “over 9000” proves it (just google those two terms)

  • mike says:

    the only good muslim fanatic is a dead muslim fanatic

  • Stephen Real says:

    Where in the world is US Military intelligence?
    Tune in, turn on, and stop messing around.
    This man came from Iraq fellas.
    What is your major malfunction?
    You’d all be horsewhipped if I was in charge.
    I would be demanding every little scrap of intel on one,
    Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, 28, born in Iraq,
    no matter how small.
    I want to know where this cat lived,
    how he picked his nose
    and what finger he used.
    Nothing is ever to small when your buiding a profile.

  • Bill Roggio says:

    If you want your comment published,. I strongly suggest you follow the clearly stated policy, which is in this entry. Otherwise your comment will be deleted, without warning.

  • KW64 says:

    This really does not advance the Jihadi cause. It seems we have seen a string of failed attempts where much of the attack plan goes wrong. It smacks of disorganization. Lacking a large reliable core group is Al Queda relying on ill-trained would be adventurers out of necessity?

  • Roger Smith says:

    What a selfish person, impacting negatively two young daughters and a wife and family by this deluded act. On the other hand, perhaps their lives will be refreshed by his demise. I, for one, will never lament his passing and am pleased to find that there were no victims.

  • gwestdallas says:

    This attack points to the fact that ISAF counter terrorism efforts are starting to bear fruit. Night raids and drone attacks have dwindled the ranks of the skilled bomb makers and attack planners,leaving behind a half trained cadre that have at times been unable to produce working devices.Added to the fact that so many Taliban fighters chose surrender over martyrdom indicates that the hard core jihadis have for the most part found the Paradise they so eagerly sought.

  • Mike says:

    Since, according to Wahhabist and other Jihadist-supporting Islamic scholars, suicide is only justifiable in Islam when you are committing jihad, because you are killing Islam’s enemies, this guy essentially committed suicide for nothing, and completely failed in his mission. He doesn’t get the 72 vigrins or the paradise in the end, because he was a complete failure.
    hahahahahahaha awesome

  • Pundita says:

    Could LWJ editor provide the date for his entry at the Muslim dating site that Lisa’s report mentions? Thank you. I’m asking because if the entry was recent it would seem his suicide run was a sudden decision completely at odds with his intention to have a second wife and big family. This also leads me to wonder how many suicide bombers are more focused on ending their lives than carrying out jihad; i.e., using jihad as an acceptable means to kill themselves for personal reasons having nothing to do with religion. Wonder if any studies have been done on this angle.

  • kp says:

    @Stephen

    Quote: “I was born in Baghdad, Iraq. We moved to Sweden in 1992.”

    How much intel do you think the US would have on a guy who moved out of Iraq in 1992 at about 10 years old?

    As others point out these not very competent attackers do not reflect well on the whole jihadi movement. He was more “successful” than the Times Sq bomber — his bomb went bang and he killed himself and injured two people. Not a big success unless you’re grasping at straws (“Look we can still attack the West!!!”).

    This sort of outcome makes them look organized; their recruiting is clearly poor (these are in general not competent people perhaps a problem with disaffected jihadi’s in general); their training is clearly poor; their local logistics/support is poor or non-existent (they really need a bomb maker in place); the picking of targets is erratic.

    And Sweden? Why Sweden? Not Denmark for the cartoons? He could have driven to Denmark from Sweden. Not the UK (where he had lived)? Very odd target choice considering the potential impact. Was it just convenient for him?

    The goal of this approach seems to be to defeat the intelligence/security services by reducing the profile of the attacker and not requiring support/logistics cells (which I presume they don’t have). One would think a better approach for them would be the same as works in Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Indonesia, etc. Have a skilled bomb maker prepare the device then hand it over to a “mule” to deliver it. Clearly AQ and similar orgs are having a problem building this sort of support in place.

  • David says:

    Amateur hour, you could make a comedy show out of all the blunders these cavemen have made. I know the overall threat needs to be taken seriously as witnessed on 9/11 but I find humor in their failure to implement plans

  • Charu says:

    Well, it appears that he came out of Londonistan (Luttonistan?), and so the Swedes could be excused for not knowing the extent of his radicalization – assuming that the Brits dropped the ball on this one and didn’t warn them.
    In retrospect, he dropped ample clues on the state of his mind, which, if the Brits had been properly monitoring, would have raised alarm bells. The UK, like Pakistan, has long labored under the impression that they could work with Islamists who could be properly directed away from targets in the West. Thus they allowed the snake to grow unchecked within their midst, and now the rest of the world is dealing with the consequences of their failure.

  • Magnus Helin says:

    I am a Swede and have followed the developments in Stockholm in detail.
    I just want to express my support for the USA in the fight against the muslim radicals wherever that fight might take you.
    My sincere thanks.

  • omar says:

    Another moron bites the dust. Unfortunately there are a more where that came from. One day some idiot is actually going to kill some people. Thank God this one failed. May they all fail.

  • TLA says:

    That’s what thirteen years of a socialist government will give you, Charu.
    Everybody gets a free ride: including would be jihadi terrorists.

  • Worried for the West says:

    I am VERY concerned about the Western world, but specifically Europe. Low birthrates amongst indigenous Europeans and high birthrates amongst immigrants who mostly do not want to be integrated.
    Now this (Stockholm). Europe needs to WAKE UP!

  • Neonmeat says:

    @ Pundita
    I think you make an excellent point regarding the state of mind of suicide bombers.
    As we know most suicide bombers are recruuited when they are young and vulnerable, probably without direction in life and little prospects and then they are offered paradise. In my opinion they are committing selfish acts not acts of Jihad and as you say are more interested in ending their life in this miserable world(for them anyway) and starting again in “paradise”.
    I would be very interested to see more about this I think you are on to something that can possibly help us understand and prevent suicide attacks.
    @ Charu @TLA
    I don’t think we can blame the UK for the rampant rise of Islamic Extremism that has been growing for a lot longer than the 12 years labour were in power. Most ISAF allies have had some nefarious dealings with Islamic Groups in the past withing their home countries and without.
    I agree though that UK did not and still does not take the problem of homegrown Islamist Radicals seriously though I just don’t think you can lump us in with Pakistan in the blame game, Finsbury Park Mosque et al does not equal the 1000s of madrassas across Pak teaching hate.

  • Andy@Israel says:

    It seems that their “jihad” is never going to stop. It began on september 11th and is still going.And actually none of these “martyrs” can explain what namely is wrong with other people and why they want to kill and destroy them!! For example, this one. Did he have a bad time living in Sweden that he was ready to kill innocent people? Probably these people have some “destroying genes” in them. That seems to be the only explanation.

  • David says:

    @Andy
    At the latest it began with the first world trade center attack in 1993, and maybe you should date it from the Iranian revolution, who began the whole suicide bombing thing. (The first one I know of being in Beirut, the marine barracks bombing, 1983). But you could go back to the attack on Sadat, or even all the Muslim Brotherhood stuff back into the 50s.

  • Bob HERRMANN says:

    September 11, 2001
    Muslim Terrorists

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis