Central Stockholm pulsed with the energy of the Christmas shopping season. Drottninggatan, the long pedestrian street cutting through the city center, overflowed with families, tourists, and last-minute gift hunters. When the car bomb detonated, witnesses reported seeing bottles of liquefied gas erupt in a chain of explosions. Near the site, investigators found a metal pipe and a rucksack filled with metal fasteners and what appeared to be explosives. According to witnesses, the bomber shouted something in Arabic before the second explosion. Swedish bomb experts would later characterize the devices as amateurishly produced. Prosecutors believe the bombs detonated prematurely, that the bomber was likely heading toward Stockholm Central Station or the Åhléns department store when something went wrong.

Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was born in Iraq in 1981 and grew up in Sweden, completing secondary school in 2001. He moved to England to study sports therapy at the University of Bedfordshire, graduating in 2004. That same year he married a Swedish citizen of Iraqi and Romanian background. They would have three children together. By 2007, al-Abdaly had begun traveling repeatedly to Jordan and Iraq. Reports indicated he became increasingly religious and angry. During Ramadan that year, he attempted to recruit other Muslims at a Luton mosque to his political views, storming out when confronted. His Facebook profile revealed a strange mixture: posts about his Apple iPad alongside references to the Islamic Caliphate and apocalyptic prophecy.

The attack might not have been entirely unexpected. A member of the Swedish Armed Forces reportedly sent a message to an acquaintance hours before the bombings: 'If you can, avoid Drottninggatan today. A lot can happen there... just so you know.' The military denied prior knowledge but promised to investigate. A second government employee reportedly had advance information as well. Terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp of the Swedish National Defence College believed al-Abdaly had not acted alone. Background coughing heard on an audio message the bomber left behind suggested accomplices. Investigation revealed he had used at least three different passports to travel to the Middle East without raising flags. His wife later admitted to uploading uncensored recordings of his final message to YouTube the day after his death.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt addressed the nation the following day. 'What occurred is unwanted and unacceptable,' he said. 'We must safeguard the open society where people can live together side by side.' The Muslim Council of Sweden condemned the attack as an assault on both Sweden and Swedish Muslims. Mosques across the country issued formal denunciations during Friday prayers. Internationally, condemnations poured in from across Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb noted that nothing similar had ever happened in the Nordic countries. The bombing remains a watershed moment in Swedish history, a reminder that even the most peaceful societies are not immune to the violence that stalks the modern world.