The woman was out walking with poles and wearing headphones when the dog suddenly grabbed hold of her, reports the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.

The animal continued to bite the woman, who went into a state of shock due to the incident.

“It’s unclear what sort of injuries she received. She was said to have been bitten on the vagina,” said police spokesperson Kjell Hellström to the TT news agency.

Police have little information about the breed of the dog, knowing only that it was “large”. Nor have they succeeded in tracking down the dog’s owner or any other witnesses to the attack.

“Unfortunately this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. It’s horrible,” said police spokesperson Mats Eriksson to DN.