described by Swedish police as “terrorist contacts” in a deadly attack in Stockholm two years ago — are reportedly being held in custody in Syria, according to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service.
RFE/RL’s Tajik Service says that according to Swedish police, the men, known by the aliases Qori Usmon and Abu Ayub Kulobi, were in contact with Rahmat Akilov, who is imprisoned for killing five people when he intentionally drove a truck through a pedestrian zone in central Stockholm in 2017.
The two reportedly contacted Akilov via messaging apps like Zello and Telegram before his deadly attack that also injured 10 people.
RFE/RL reported on December 18 that two Tajik nationals – Parviz Saidrahmonov, known as Abu Davud, and Tojiddin Nazarov, known as Abu Osama Noraki – are in custody in Syria. They are reportedly wanted by Tajik and Russian authorities on terrorism charges.
Swedish investigators said Saidrahmonov and Nazarov were accomplices of Uzbek national Rahmat Akilov, who committed a vehicle ramming attack in Stockholm in April 2017.
Recall, Akilov chose to attack during an afternoon as there were many people and tourists in the area. The attack took place at about 14:53 local time on April 7, 2017. He was arrested hours later in a northern suburb of Stockholm.
He was jailed for life for terrorist crimes in June 2018. Akilov admitted at the trial that he drove a hijacked truck down a busy pedestrian street in the center of Stockholm on April 7, 2017, killing three Swedes including an 11-year-old girl, a British man, and a Belgian woman. Ten other people were injured.
Rahmat Akilov, an Uzbek asylum seeker, had been denied residency in Sweden and had expressed sympathy for the Islamic State (IS) terror group.
Akilov had applied for residency in 2014 but had been informed in December 2016 that he had four weeks to leave the country. Akilov did not leave and, in February 2017, was officially put on a wanted list.
