Sweden will “never go back to the days of mass immigration” after it emerged the Stockholm attacker was a failed asylum seeker, the Swedish prime minister has said.
Stefan Löfven spoke out against the recent mass influx of immigrants coming in to Sweden during the 2015 migrant crisis.
His comments come after suspected terrorist Rakhmat Akilov, 39, from Uzbekistan, allegedly drove a stolen beer truck into pedestrians at a busy department store in Stockholm on Friday.
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Four people were killed, including Brit dad-of-two Chris Bevinton, and dozens more injured in the harrowing attack, which showed similarities to the London terror attack last month.
The Swedish Prime Minister said: “Sweden will never go back to the [mass migration] we had in autumn 2015, never. Everyone who has been denied a permit should return home.
"This makes me feel enormously frustrated. If you have been denied a visa you are supposed to leave the country."
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He added: "Terrorists want us to be afraid, want us to change our behaviour, want us to not live our lives normally, but that is what we’re going to do. Terrorists can never defeat Sweden, never."
Sweden, a country of 10 million people, took in 244,000 asylum seekers in 2014 and 2015 - the highest per capita number in Europe.
There are more than 3,000 migrants reportedly living unlawfully in Stockholm alone and an estimated 12,000 migrants awaiting deportation from the country.
Politicians in the Sweden have now demanded greater powers which could see failed asylum seekers being forced to report to police stations.
It comes after details around the suspected terrorist emerged with Swedish authorities revealing Akilovhad been given four weeks to leave Sweden after his final asylum appeal failed in December.
The construction worker and dad-of-four went underground when he received a deportation order after his permanent residency application was rejected.
He was being sought by police and immigration officials for deportation, but evaded them by giving a false address.
Swedish police said that the man was known to have had extremist sympathies.
He allegedly confessed to the crime and said he was "pleased with what he had done", Aftonbladet and the Expressen daily both reported.
The motive was not known, but the method resembled previous attacks using vehicles in Nice, Berlin and London, all of them claimed by Islamic State.
On Sunday, around 50,000 people gathered in Stockholm's Sergel Torg plaza for a vigil to stand united against terrorism.
A second suspect was arrested, Stockholm district court judge Helga Hullman told AFP - but refused disclose if there were any links to Akilov.