The film, from a CCTV camera only yards from where British-educated Taimour Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly detonated his home-made device, shows a man wearing a backpack walking down one of Stockholm’s busiest shopping streets surrounded by dozens of members of the public.
The man appears to rummage inside his coat, possibly trying to detonate the bomb. He then quickly changes direction, walking back through the shoppers and down a quiet side street.
Hidden threat: The man walks amid shoppers
Suspicious: He turns towards a side street
Four minutes later a huge explosion erupts from the same side street, tearing across the left side of the screen and sending passers-by running amid billowing grey smoke.
Abdulwahab, 28, killed himself and injured two members of the public. Had he successfully detonated the device earlier, police believe he could have killed or injured hundreds of innocent shoppers.
Peter Jonsson, a security expert and former employee of the Swedish intelligence service Saepo, said: ‘The footage shows a very focused individual, walking on a very deliberate line who was not out for Christmas shopping.
It looks as if his equipment malfunctions in the crowd and he went back to the quiet side street to go and check on it. Obviously he would not do this on an open street where people would panic.
‘In the footage it looks like he is doing something with his left hand in front of the jacket.
‘With his right hand side, just before he cuts the corner, you can see an antenna and that could be the walkie-talkie that was pictured on the floor after the explosion – he was either talking to an accomplice, or this may have been rigged to ¬detonate the bombs.’
Mr Jonsson revealed security teams were attempting to estimate the height of the man in the video to compare it to Abdulwahab.
He said that although others had speculated that the bomber might have had second thoughts and tried to stop the device, the position of the body after the explosion suggested otherwise.
‘It was on its back, leading to the conclusion that he was facing a wall when the device exploded,’ he said.
‘It looks like he was trying to face away from the crowds and fix the equipment at this time.’
Investigators from Saepo have added to speculation that the bomb could have malfunctioned before it went off – forcing Abdulwahab to try to fix the device.
Saepo security chief Jan Garton said: ‘Our current picture of the final movements of the bomber was that he had trouble exploding the device and was therefore moving back and forth close to the street where he was found.’
Abdulwahab was born in Iraq but raised in Sweden from the age of ten until he took up a university course in Luton around 2001.
While in the UK, he became increasingly radicalised and was thrown out of an Islamic centre for his extremist views.
He returned to Sweden in the past few weeks and last Saturday carried out the attack, setting off a car bomb shortly before blowing himself up.
The CCTV footage was released as it was claimed Scotland Yard was investigating a link between Abdulwahab and radical preacher Abu Hamza, who used to operate from the notorious Finsbury Park mosque in north London.
Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported that the Met – whose officers raided Abdulwahab’s house in Luton last week – were looking into the link with Hamza, 52, who is serving a seven-year sentence for incitement to murder and racial hatred.
Swedish investigators refused to give any more details of the link and last night Scotland Yard declined to comment.
Meanwhile Abdulwahab’s father-in-law, Ali Thwany, yesterday released a statement saying he was glad his son-in-law was dead. And he denied rumours that his daughter Mona, 28, knew of the suicide plan.
Mr Thwany said Mona had been suspicious about her husband’s radical views and frequent foreign trips but had been too frightened to speak out. In an email to the Swedish media, Mr Thwany said: ‘We feel no sorrow. We are not sad over his death.
‘On the contrary. I view his departure as the door to freedom for my daughter. Now she can be free from the brainwash of terrorism. She has told me that she deeply regretted that she has been silent all the time.’
Confusion: Smoke billows out over the crowds
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