hello, this is bbc news. the headlines this evening. . three people have been killed and many others injured, after a lorry drove into pedestrians outside a department store in the swedish capital, stockholm. the swedish prime minister says everything points to an act of terror. local media say the lorry was hijacked from a brewery earlier in the day. eyewitnesses spoke of horrific scenes. there was blood everywhere, there were bodies on the ground everywhere, and the sense of panic, people standing by their loved ones, but also people running away. police release images of a suspect who they think is connected to the attack. they confirmed they are interviewing two people over the truck attack. american warships have fired nearly 60 cruise missiles at a syrian government airbase, in the united states‘ first direct action against president assad's regime. moscow has strongly condemned the action, with a warning from the russian prime minister

that the us came close to a military confrontation with russia. a romanian tourist has become the fifth victim of the attack in westminster two weeks‘ ago. we‘re going to go straight back to stockholm now and what looks like a terror attack in the swedish capital — a lorry drove into a crowd of pedestrians in the capital, stockholm. reports say at least three people have been killed and many others injured. the vehicle is reported to have rammed into a busy department store on drottninggatan — one of the city‘s major shopping streets. our security correspondent frank gardner recaps now on what we know. the people are scared. something is happening... a moment of panic in a peaceful city. this was stockholm this afternoon,

as people fled in terror from a truck which appeared to drive deliberately into crowds of shoppers on a pedestrian street. translation: i saw exactly where the lorry went in, just there. there wasn‘t much of a reaction, then the police arrived. the police just said, you have to run. initial reports said two people were killed, then at least three, and several injured. stockholm has seen nothing like this for years. the truck crashed into a department store and caught fire. the brewery company that owned it said a man hijacked it earlier during a delivery. this person is a localjournalist. you could actually see bodies lying on the street and i could see the police covering the body with an orange blanket. there were lots of police around, lots of people standing around and filming, taking photos. there was a lady laying with a severed foot, there was blood everywhere, there were bodies on the ground everywhere.

and there was a sense of panic. people standing by their loved ones, but also people running away. the swedish authorities say they had no warning of this attack. the question now is, who did it and why? the police have issued these pictures of a man they want to question, while the prime minister says sweden has come under attack. translation: the government is informed of the situation and i am getting continuous updates. we support all the authorities that are working on this, and we are asking the public to be alert and listen to police advice. at least two people are dead and our thoughts are with their families. whoever was behind today‘s attack, this has been a huge shock, notjust for sweden, but for all of scandinavia. security is now being tightened in neighbouring norway and finland. already, some are saying this has been a wake—up call. any moore has been following the

store for are are, what is the latest? it is on those two people arrested. we have had a perez release from the police saying they we re release from the police saying they were brought in for questioning, because the police thought they might have information to offer, they are currently not suspected of any crime. you remember when khalid masood, the attack on westminster bridge, metropolitan police arrested a lot of people in the wake of that attack, none were ever charged with any offence, so it is not unusual for people to be arrested in the aftermath. police confirmed they have launched a preliminary investigation, into suspected terrorist crimes. the important thing is they have released images ofa man thing is they have released images of a man they are looking for, they say they haven‘t arrested the driver of the lorry. so it is reasonable to assume that these images they have

put out, this is the driver of the lorry, as far as we are aware man suspected odd a terrorist attack is at large. what more are they saying about the other aspects of the investigation? ? they say what we know is that the lorry was stolen, hijacked shortly before the attack, there was a delivery in drottninggatan. the same street where the attack happened. the driver got out, to arrange a delivery, while he did that, somebodyjumped delivery, while he did that, somebody jumped into the delivery, while he did that, somebodyjumped into the cab, december guyed —— described as a masked man. shortly after that the lorry drove down the street and drove into various people. it crashed into a department store, there was a fire after that, but it appears that the man who was driving the vehicle managed to get out before that fire started. started. efficiently police are saying several people had been killed, several people had been killed, several people had been killed, several people injured. unofficially we believe that at least three have been killed, and at least eight

injured. a lot of people in stockholm, the city basically on lockdown, the subway closed down, all trains closed down, so a lot of people are walk home this evening, emergency shelters have been opened for those who can‘t get home on public transport. you mentioned that police say they are looking for the man who was thought to be driving this vehicle, these are some images that the police have released of this man, you can see he has a hood up. it is not so easy to see his face, but this is the man that we understand they are looking for. how easy that will be, in a city like stockholm which i understand doesn‘t have the sort of cctv coverage we are used to in this country. now but there was some images, we believe those imams were taken shortly after the attack, you can see an escalator in the background of some of the shots, it may be they were taken in a department store, it may be they we re a department store, it may be they were taken at the entrance to the

underground, which was very close to where the attack happened. so that would explain why the underground system was closed down so rapidly, after the attack. but, the people of stockholm will be examining those images tonight, and i am sure stockholm police will hope someone will come forward to say we —— who this man is and we know where he is. for the moment, andy, thank you. earlierjane hill spoke to a journalist for swedish tv. he has been speaking to eyewitnesss in stockholm. i have been talking to two people that were at the scene, one was a female doctor, who tried to help one of the victims, who was badly hurt, this victim. she thinks she didn‘t actually, she wasn‘t able to save her. the other man was a man who saw the lorry crash into the department

store, started to burn, they saw also a lot of injured and some dead people too. with your experience there, as a journalist, are you shocked, surprised if this turns out to be an act of terrorism, will that surprise you in any way? actually not. that is the first thing that comes to mind. we don‘t know for sure, yet, what the motive was for this, but it‘s, it‘s very alike other attacks, like in nice or in germany, so, it could very well be terror attack, and the man who did this is still at large, and the swedish police is trying to hunt him down. they have published a picture of this man. and if it does indeed transpire that this is terrorism, what sort of impact do you think that will have

on swedish society, because for example we have have been talking a national lottery about the fact that stockholm is very hope, —— talking a lot. it doesn't have a mass of cctv cameras as we might be used to, will that change people‘s attitudes and approach, do you think? yes, of course, it will have a large impact, and but people are like prepared that something like this could happen, andi that something like this could happen, and i think there is an acceptance, acceptance for surveillance and cameras, just to try to stop this thing happening. surveillance and cameras, just to try to stop this thing happening. the un security council is holding an emergency meeting to discuss the us missile strikes on a syrian base —

that washington believes was used as the launch pad for a chemical weapons attack. russia‘s deputy ambassador has told that meeting there could be very on tuesday the assad regime launched a deical attack on civilians. in the most gruesome way. assad did this, because he thought he could get away with it. he thought he could get away with it, because he knew russia would have his back. that changed last night. as i warned on wednesday, when the international community consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times when states are compelled to ta ke times when states are compelled to take their own action, the indiskrill nat use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, is one of those times. —— indiscriminate. the us will not

stand by by when weapon chemical weapons are used. it in our national security interest to prevent the spread and use of chemical weapons. our military destroyed the airfield from which this week‘s chemical strike took players we were fully justified in doing so. the moral stain of the assad regime could no longer go unanswered. his crimes against humanity could no longer be met with empty words. it was time our military destroyed the airfield from which this week‘s chemical strike took players we were fully justified in doing so. the moral stain of the assad regime could no longer go unanswered. his crimes against humanity could no longer be met with empty words. it was time to say "enough", but not only say it, it was time together. bashar al—assad must never use chemical weapons again. ever. the us. am ambassador. with us is our correspondentjonathan us. am ambassador. with us is our correspondent jonathan marcus. us. am ambassador. with us is our correspondentjonathan marcus. i wonder if you can talk us through the strike that the us decided to mount on syria. what was used, where was it launched from they struck an

air base to the south—east of homes, air base to the south—east of homes, a base where we believe ground attack aircraft are located and the americans say these were the aircraft that were involved they argue dropping chemical weapons in this incident earlier in the week. the americans struck that target was 59 cruise missiles, launched from two warships in the eastern mediterranean, these are actually destroyer, they are two ships that are part of a mission that the americans have to provide ballistic missile defence for southern europe, these are capable vessel, they carry about 90 or so weapons of various kinds that are launched vertedly, a good proportion of testify mix are land attack cruise missiles, that is what was used in this particular strike. how readily available were these force, because it did seem that president trump made those comments about the chemical strike and made the decision quickly to ta ke

and made the decision quickly to take action. they were ready, they we re take action. they were ready, they were there. these are forces which have a different mission in the mediterranean any way, they operate out of a spanish base, and they are permanently there now, two ships of this class, so they were around, they have this additional capability they have this additional capability they can launch land attack cruise missiles so they were the obvious vessels to use. i don‘t think there is any sense there was any particular american build up to carry out this strike, they use what forces they had available. what evidence is there of the damage that, the destruction these 59 missiles caused to their target? including any casualties? there seem to bea including any casualties? there seem to be a small number of casualties sadly. no russians killed and the americans alerted the russians before the strike, and it may well before the strike, and it may well be that the russians alerted many of the syrian personnel, we don‘t know, but we have seen film of the air base after the strike, there is certainly some damage, a number of

aircraft look to have been destroyed as well. it it is st to really the scale of the damage that we need to look here to, but the symbolism. the americans have drawn a head rien, mr obama drew that red line headquarter failed to act back in 2013/11; when the syrians crossed that line, the syrians crossed that line again, and mrtrump, aftertaking syrians crossed that line again, and mr trump, after taking advice from some of the key figures in his administration, a number of whom are very experienced military officer, and military officers to boot who are ofa and military officers to boot who are of a very particular kind, they are of a very particular kind, they are officers who have no, you know, extraordinary ideas about the validity and use of military force, they think north east is important but they think there has to be a political dimension as well. i think that in way is the most important thing out of this. how far does this new approach by donald trump signal a new american policy towards syria, he hasn‘t reelaborated that policy yet. he said the chemical attack changed his mind but we don‘t pose

what that means and how far when the dust settles is he going to be able to pursue some policy perhaps in concert with the russians? thank you jonathan. now it is time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday. england‘s lee westwood is one of those enjoying a more temperate day at the masters — but it hasn‘t been a walk in the park for everyone at augusta. and great britain are battling for davis cup survival. they‘ll have to come from behind to win the quarterfinal against france without andy murray. definitly red heads into tomorrow‘s grand national as one of the favourites — we‘ll be live at aintree. good evening, there‘s plenty

of sport in the offing today, and we start with what‘s already shaping up to be a battle at augusta in the first golf major of the year — the masters. america‘s charley hoffman now holds a three shot lead, with england‘s matthew fitzpatrick the highest—placed briton, five shots back on one under par. patrick gearey has the story of the first day‘s play. day one put the gust into augusta. in the wind, the golfer is like the sailor, take no risks get back indoors and whatever you do don‘t end up in the water. the forjordan spieth an echo of how his master‘s challenge ended last year, the golfer wants not to be blown too far—under par. among them englishman justin rose, a shot better off is

lee wet rude, look for his first major, for others a round‘s hard work drained away. fitzpatrick led for a while but was dragged into the pack. there seemed to be only one sheltered spot. where ever charley hoffman, is, he isn‘t well—known, or wasn‘t. 7—under par was some introduction. attention follows rory mcilroy, the world number two meandered off course but found his way back, this maybe a tournament for coppers rather than masters. this maybe a tournament for coppers rather than masters. so that the story of day one but let‘s cross live to the course now and join hazel irvine for the latest. hazel, a far more temperate day for you there? i see sunshine behind you?m i see sunshine behind you? it is warmer, but still very very challenging out there, because we do have gusts of plus 25mph again, so it is picture perfect, that is for sure but test, only two men since 1985 have held the first round lead

and gone on to win and charley hoffman is shouldering that kind of responsibility, he has a very co mforta ble responsibility, he has a very comfortable lead last night but it has been cut to only two shots. in fa ct, has been cut to only two shots. in fact, he has been dropping shots here there and everywhere. he has picked another one at the 13th to restore a two shot advantage. ryan moore at the, the man who sank the winning putt for the united states in the ryder cup last year, in at 3—under. that is a terrific score of 69. sergeia garcia got it to li—under but had troubles at the tenth. an awful seven we understand there from the spaniard who is in his 75th major, seeking a first win, andy sullivan steady start from him, still at 1—under par. matthew fitzpatrick still to go out and phil mickelson, who incidentally the last twice he has tied fourth at the start of a masters has gone on to

win in 2004, and 2006. justin rose yet to go out as well. plenty of possibilities, at 5 live will be on the airfrom 9.00 and then possibilities, at 5 live will be on the air from 9.00 and then tomorrow you will see highlights of round two, bbc two, 1.00, or indeed, if you are an early bird you can get it on the button as well as 9.30. so beautiful, but very challenging hugh. thank you. great britain face an uphill struggle to make it to the last four of the davis cup. in the absence of world number one andy murray, they trail france 2—0 after a disappointing first day in rouen. it is very much advantage france. 2-0 it is very much advantage france. 2—0 up after the opening day. you look back to that second set tie—break where kyle edmund led 5—2. that was it. that could have have been the turn of the match. i have to say kyle, how could he have done

a bit more, been more aggressive. you have to say he was brilliant then, suddenly got more aggressive, had that confidence in the top 20 player has, once he won that set, the match was over. changed the momentum of the match. yes. etch though it was edmunds best serb face. he played the big points well and specially in that tie—break, once he got a two set lee lead it was going to be difficult and kind edmund lost a bit of belief. so second match, dan evan, up against chardy, who was noah‘s pick to come m, chardy, who was noah‘s pick to come in, putting out simon. it was justified. it was. he was brilliant today. it just so ago sieve, the ball was heavy off his shots. it looks like dan looked like he had nothing to hurt him with at all today. you felt for dan, he was hitting the serves so big. he was scurrying behind the baseline for most of the match. you could tell

that the comfiest seat in the house was noah‘s, he was speaking to him in the match. he was comfortable from the first point to the last. leon smith the captain not so co mforta ble. leon smith the captain not so comfortable. he has the try and lift the team. there is still three matches to be played. there is still a slim chance. lyon, he his attitude is we have been champions. this is a tough tie, it is no over yet. they have to get to three, let us make them try and work hard, we can still win this match. it will be a an interesting doubles match, you will seeest on bbc one at 1.10. just imagine the noise tomorrow for the grand national at aintree. it‘s "sweepstake time" up and down the country, as the grand national is run at aintree tomorrow. definitly red is one of the favourites in the 40—strong field, and katie walsh is fit, for what is sure to be an eventful race. andy swiss is at the course for us.

it is ladies‘ day there, a big day the racing calendar ahead of the showpiece tomorrow. that is right. today was the social highlight of the aintree festival. today, is the sporting highlight, the grand national. let us talk to a man who has ridden some 14 times, andrew thornton. thank you for talking to us. a lot of talk, a lot of money going on definitly red. can you understand why? can't understand it at all! he has a very good chance but with a horse called definitly red, there is half of the liverpool people will be backing it, not sure about the other half, but he has an outstanding chance. he has a confident jockey onboard, danny cook, he has won many times before, he has schooled him. i would cook, he has won many times before, he has schooled him. iwould imagine he has schooled him. iwould imagine he will start favourite for the race. is who else would you be looking out for? i like the look of double shuffle he is is a big price,

could be 40 or 50 to one. travels very well. horse at the top of the handicap the last samuri, he ran a cracking race last year, collared half way up the run in. more of that he has an outstanding chance. he finished sixth in the gold cup. the one i have a feeling for is blaklion. nigel twist on the davis rides him. his son rides for paul nicholls, so he is unavailable and noel fehily takes over. ryan hatch, he got a nasty injury early in the season, and willie who rode it last time had a nasty fall. blaklion, i think he has an outstanding chance. katie walsh, had that terrible fall but she is riding tomorrow. katie is as tough as they come. she went to

hospital yesterday, for x—ray, most people thought the worst, and she wouldn't be able to get the chance to ride in the race, but the x—rays veal everything was all clear. it is funny, i can imagine she would be laid there thinking the worst. as soon as she has been told she jumped up, would be rubbing her hands together and is fine. great to see her onboard wonderful charm for paul nicholls an not without a chance. she has a good record. finished third on the race on sea bass before, so she has good experience. today‘s big race over the fence, the topham chase, a great win for 18—year—old harry cob den on ultra gold. gold. harry cob den, 18 years old. first ride over the national fencesin old. first ride over the national fences in the topham, and, had a great run round, so his confidence, you can imagine where it is. it is sky high, going into tomorrow‘s race, his first ride in the national. he will be, well, just, i

don‘t know whether he will have much sleep tonight, but he has noed bah experiences over the fence, so, he will be looking forward to that. thank you. there we have it. the grand national 5.15 tomorrow and you can listen to it all on bbc radio 5 live. well, it‘s already been a busy week of football with the run—in to the close of the season well and truly under way. and it seems like there will be more good news for arsenal fans. manager arsene wenger says he believes talisman alexis sanchez wants to stay at the club. the chilean is under contract until the end of next season and wenger is confident he‘ll extend his stay, despire reports he‘d prefer to leave. i believe that basically he wants to stay at the club. it is down to finding an agreement with his agent. you know, ithink finding an agreement with his agent. you know, i think the players first have to see are they happy at the club, and after most of the time,

it‘s down to find an agreement, but the finances are involved in it. yes. well, it‘s the news liverpool fans feared most. forward sadio mane is set to miss the rest of the season after he suffered a knee injury in last weekend‘s win over everton. he‘s started all but five of their league games this campaign — and all five liverpool failed to win. so here are the weekend‘s premier league games. tomorrow, spurs can close the gap on chelsea to four points, at least for a few hours if they beat watford. a couple of important fixtures at the bottom of the table as middlesbrough host burnley and swansea visit west ham. chelsea go to bournemouth, hoping to at least preserve their lead at the top. celtic manager brendan rodgers has signed a new four year contract at the club, just days after leading them to their sixth consecutive scottish premiership title. they‘re also still on course for a domestic treble. rodgers‘ new deal runs untiljune of 2021. that‘s all from sportsday.

there‘ll be more sport here on bbc news throughout the evening. more sunshine and higher temperatures on way, today the highest temperatures were again round the london area but it was a struggle to lift the temperatures across northern england and northern ireland, it took a while more the cloud to rake, you can see we have a sunny end to the day, but still some cloud across scotland, that will retreat up to the north—west, and the northern isles. generally cloud free overnight. a bit of misand fog towards the west country. the south—west midlands, and a chilly night especially in the countryside with clear skies and light winds down to two or three. warming up quickly in the sunshine, the fog doesn‘t last long, beautiful day in england and wales, strong sunshine here, higher temperatures in the sunshine than today, across northern ireland, ana sunshine than today, across northern

ireland, an a good part of scotland away from the far north, and for most of sunday eastern scotland doesn‘t look too bad but the rest of scotland, northern ireland clouding over, we will get rain here but for most of england and wales it will be sunny again. a range of temperatures. it won‘t be that warm in the north—west. but for most of england and wales, really warm in the sunshine, highs of 23 celsius. this is bbc world news today, reporting from washington. i‘m tim wilcox. the headlines: president trump‘s rhetoric in action — russia condemns us air strikes in syria and promise and is to strengthen the country‘s air defence systems. a barrage of tomahawk missiles hits syria‘s second—largest airbase, from where the chemical weapons attack‘s believed to have been launched. tonight, i call on all civilised nations tojoin us in tonight, i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in

syria. a dramatic reversal of his previous position on syria eclipses the