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TERRORISM

Three things we know about the terror threat in Sweden

The US is warning Americans in Sweden of possible terror attacks in retaliation of recent Koran burning incidents, but the Swedish security police say their terror threat level remains unchanged. Here's a brief rundown of what we know so far.

Published: 7 February 2023 16:23 CET
Three things we know about the terror threat in Sweden
File photo of the US embassy in Stockholm. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

The US is warning its citizens to keep a low profile

The warning was published in a new notice on the US embassy’s homepage.

“US citizens are advised to use caution when going to public venues frequented by large numbers of people. Gathering sites such as places of worship could be targeted. Please use caution when in, and around, all diplomatic facilities. Report suspicious activity to the relevant authorities,” reads the notice.

‘Disinformation campaign against Sweden’

The warning comes after a far-right extremist last month burned the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, causing Turkey to suspend Nato talks with Sweden and Finland, and causing outrage and demonstrations in many Muslim countries.

Swedish authorities have previously warned that anger sparked by incidents such as the burning of the Koran, as well as the hanging of an effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by a pro-Kurdish group in January, could lead to a risk of threats.

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At a press conference last week, the head of Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency said that there was an ongoing extensive disinformation campaign against Sweden, including violent statements mentioning the country as a legitimate terror target following protests such as these.

Overall terror threat level remains unchanged

The Swedish security police have not raised Sweden’s terror threat level as a result.

It is currently at three on a scale from one to five, where it has remained since 2010, with the exception of a period in 2015 when it was temporarily raised to four.

Level three is described as “elevated” which means “an attack could happen” but doesn’t mean one is imminent.

A spokesperson for the security police told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that they were aware of the warning from the US government.

“All countries make their own threat assessments and have their own classifications. In the case of the US we refer to them. As for our assessment of the terror threat leavel, it remains at an elevated level, a three on a five-point scale,” said the spokesperson.

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TERRORISM

Two men held in Germany over Swedish parliament terror plot

German police have arrested two people suspected of planning a terror attack on the Swedish parliament, reports Der Spiegel.

Published: 19 March 2024 13:22 CET
Two men held in Germany over Swedish parliament terror plot

The men, aged 30 and 23, were arrested in Gera south of Leipzig on Tuesday morning.

Identified as Ibrahim M G and Ramin N, Der Spiegel reports that they are Afghan citizens with links to IS Khorasan, the splinter group of the Islamic State terror group in Afghanistan.

They are suspected of planning to open fire on police officers and other people in or at the Swedish parliament building in Stockholm, in retaliation of a series of Quran burnings in Sweden in recent years. 

According to the prosecutor’s arrest order, the men, acting in close consultation with officials of IS Khorasan, researched the area and tried to obtain weapons, albeit unsuccessfully.

Swedish police and security police declined to comment on the reports when approached by Swedish media.

The men were expected to appear at a remand hearing in Karlsruhe on Tuesday.

It’s the second suspected terror plot uncovered in Germany against Sweden over Quran burnings. In December, two brothers from Syria were convicted of planning a bomb attack on a church in Sweden.

Last year, at least four militant Islamic terror groups called for revenge attacks against Sweden in response to the series of Quran-burning protests carried out by the Iraqi activist Salwan Momika and by the Danish activist Rasmus Paludan. 

As a result, Sweden’s National Centre for Terrorist Threat Assessment in August raised the terror threat level to “High”, or four on a scale of five. In a interview with The Local at the time, terror researcher Magnus Ranstorp called the threat against Sweden “unprecedented”. 

According to the Germany’s prosecutor’s office, the two suspects are said to have made concrete preparations for the planned attack in close consultation with ISPK officials.

Germany’s security authorities have long been warning against the ISPK, an offshoot of the Islamic State in Afghanistan and Central Asia. The terrorist group has already tried in several cases to incite young people in Germany to carry out attacks on “infidels”, or police officers via the internet.

A cell of Islamists from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan arrested in Germany in July 2023 is also said to have been in contact with ISPK cadres. According to Spiegel, citing judicial files, they were possibly planning attacks on Jews in Germany, and a liberal mosque in Berlin could also have been a terrorist target.

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