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TERRORISM

Stockholm police on alert after Oslo blast

Police in Stockholm have increased their presence at key government buildings in the capital following the dramatic explosion in Oslo on Friday afternoon.

“Of course, the incident influences us in Stockholm,” police spokesman Stefan Färdigs told TT.

“We are taking action along with the security police, but I can’t say what that will be.”

However, despite the massive bomb attack in neighbouring Norway – which has claimed several lives and injured many more – the terror threat level in Sweden has not been raised.

“We have not seen any reason to increase it,” said security police (Säpo) press officer Sirpa Franzén to Aftonbladet.

“We are in contact with our partners, the security police in Norway, and we’re receiving information from other sources too,” she added.

The explosion apparently struck at the heart of Norway’s administration, turning the streets around the government quarter into ‘a warzone’. Large parts of the centre of Oslo were evacuated following the blast.

Sweden’s embassy in Oslo is around three kilometres from the site of the explosion and was undamaged in the explosion.

Speaking to Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish diplomat in Oslo who was on duty at the time of the blast, Olof Hultdgren, said that there has been little contact so far from Swedes in the city.

“But there are a great many Swedes who live and work here, especially during the summer,” he said.

TERRORISM

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

Police in Milan said on Thursday they had arrested a 37-year-old Algerian man in the subway, later discovering he was wanted for alleged ties to Islamic State.

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

When stopped by police officers for a routine check, the man became “particularly aggressive”, said police in Milan, who added the arrest took place “in recent days”.

He was “repeatedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while attempting to grab from his backpack an object that turned out to be a knife with a blade more than 12cm (nearly five inches) long,” they said in a statement.

The man was later found to be wanted by authorities in Algeria, suspected since 2015 of belonging to “Islamic State militias and employed in the Syrian-Iraqi theatre of war,” police said.

Police said the suspect was unknown to Italian authorities.

The man is currently in Milan’s San Vittore prison and awaiting extradition, they added.

Jihadist group IS proclaimed a “caliphate” in 2014 across swathes of Syria and Iraq, launching a reign of terror that continues with hit-and-run attacks and ambushes.

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