World Bulletin / News Desk

A van drove into a crowd of people outside a busy department store in central Stockholm on Friday, injuring people, police said.

"Police received a call from SOS Alarm that a person in a vehicle has injured other people on Drottninggatan," police wrote on Twitter.

Thick smoke was rising from the scene, but police have yet to confirm the information.

Video images showed an area blocked off by police and crowds gathering around the police cordon.

Helicopters could be heard hovering in the sky over central Stockholm, and a large number of police cars and ambulances were dispatched to the scene, witnesses said.

It was not immediately clear whether it was an accident or an attack.