Store apologises after announcing reopening after Stockholm truck attack with damaged goods at a "reduced price"

Bosses of a Swedish department store rammed by a stolen lorry during an attack that left four people dead have apologised for a “bad decision” that saw it announce it would reopen to sell damaged goods at a “reduced price”.

A statement posted on the Ahlens Facebook page said it regretted the announcement that it would reopen two days after the deadly attack.

Four people were killed and 15 were injured when the lorry, hijacked from outside a nearby restaurant, crashed into the front of the store on Stockholm’s pedestrian Drottninggatan street on Friday afternoon.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but Sweden’s police chief said authorities were confident they had detained the man responsible – a 39-year-old native of Uzbekistan who is thought to have deliberately driven the truck into shoppers.

The statement on Ahlens’ Facebook page apologised for a “bad decision” that led to an email being sent to customers informing them about plans to reopen the Ahlens City store on Sunday, including damaged goods sold at a reduced price.

“We are deeply unhappy both over the decision and over email,” it said, adding that the driving force behind the announcement was born out of the idea of standing up for transparency and not letting evil forces rule their lives.”

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“It’s never been about making money on the incredibly tragic event that has befallen Stockholm,” the statement added. “We would like to again ask our customers an apology.”

The reopening of the store was then announced as Monday, without any damaged goods.

Thousands of flowers have been laid at the scene of Friday’s attack, with thousands gathering to pay tribute to those who died, including Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and Crown Princess Victoria.

Sweden’s police chief Dan Eliason said officers found something in the stolen beer truck that “could be a bomb” or an incendiary device, but said they were still investigating.

The attack was the latest in which drivers have used vehicles as weapons. The latest was the terror attack in Westminster last month, and previously Islamic State claimed responsibility for a truck attack that killed 86 people in Nice, France, in July 2016, as well as another that killed 12 people at a Christmas market last year in Berlin.