Huge crowds gathered in Stockholm for a "Lovefest" vigil against terrorism on Sunday (Apr. 9^th), two days after a truck attack that police believe was committed by an Uzbek militant sympathiser.

Organisers said up to 50,000 people took part in the vigil, held after the driver of a stolen truck mowed down shoppers before slamming into the facade of the bustling Ahlens department store on Friday (Apr. 7^th) afternoon.

People attend a memorial ceremony on April 9^th, 2017 at Sergels Torg plaza in Stockholm, close to the point where a truck drove into a department store. (Photo: AFP/Odd ANDERSEN)

The motive was not known, but the method resembled previous attacks using vehicles in Nice, Berlin and London, all of them claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

Police have only identified the suspected driver, arrested hours after the attack, as a 39-year-old man from Uzbekistan. Swedish media on Sunday gave his name as Rakhmat Akilov, a construction worker and father of four.

According to police, the suspect was a sympathiser of extremist groups and was facing deportation after his residency permit application was denied.

He "showed interest for extremist organisations like IS," senior police officer Jonas Hysing told reporters.

A second suspect has also been formally placed under arrest over the attack, Stockholm district court judge Helga Hullman said on Sunday, revealing no information about his link to the Uzbek.

Media reports said the man, a father of four who worked in construction, did not come across as having been radicalised. "He partied and drank," one of his friends said.

The family of an 11-year-old Swedish girl has meanwhile confirmed she was one of the four people killed in the attack.

The Foreign Office in London confirmed that a British man, 41-year-old Chris Bevington who was a top executive at Sweden-based music streaming company Spotify, was among the dead.

The Belgian Foreign Ministry also said a Belgian woman had been killed.

The fourth victim was a Swedish woman, according to local media. Fifteen people were injured, two of whom remained in critical condition on Sunday.

Friday's attack was the second terror attack in Stockholm. In December 2010, a suicide bomber blew himself up, also on the Drottninggatan Street, slightly injuring several passersby.

Investigators said on Sunday they had found components in a bag in the cab of the truck that could be used to make a "dangerous device".

Police said they were increasingly sure the Uzbek was the driver of the lorry.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Norway, the domestic intelligence agency on Sunday raised the national threat level, judging the risk of an attack was "probable" rather than "possible", notably because of the risk of a copycat assault.

The announcement came after a 17-year-old Russian was arrested on suspicion of placing a homemade bomb in central Oslo, which police detonated in a controlled explosion./.

VNF/AFP