Stockholm attack suspect 'confesses to terrorist crime'

Responding to the attack, Swedish Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said he wanted to toughen the nation's terrorism laws.

Akilov had been denied residency in Sweden and had expressed sympathy for the Islamic State (IS) terror group, the police said. At least 15 people were injured in the incident. Two Swedes, a British man and a Belgian woman were killed in the attack.

The construction worker, who was arrested in a Stockholm suburb hours after last Friday's attack, appeared handcuffed and wearing a thick green hoodie over his head.

He was detained by police hours later and charged on Saturday morning.

Akilov's attack with a truck ramming through the crowd has not been claimed by IS, like Nice, Berlin, and London. Authorities knew he had pro-extremist sympathies.

Accompanied by a lawyer and a Russian-language interpreter, Akilov was led into court by two police officers who gripped a black belt secured around his waist.

The Times also reports that the Swedish Security Service, Sapo, had warned in March that an attack by a lone terrorist was likely to happen in the country within the year.

"We have a good relationship and we are working together in this case", Eriksson said on Tuesday.

Swedes have poured into downtown Stockholm since the attack, building a wall of flowers and scribbling notes on sidewalks and wooden boards in memory of the victims, and encouraging people to refrain from despair or hate.

However, national police commissioner Dan Eliasson said "there was nothing in the system that indicated (the suspect) would do something like what he did on Friday".

The prosecutor's office said Tuesday that "the suspicions have weakened" against a second man who was detained Sunday as a possible accomplice.

In 2015, a record 163,000 asylum-seekers arrived in the country - the highest per capita rate in Europe.

The statement said he would not be set free but instead "be taken into custody due to a previous decision that he shall be expelled from Sweden".