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TERRORISM

Swedish Security Service warn of increase in terror threats against Sweden

Sweden is the target of an increased number of threats against the country following a far-right activist’s burning of the Koran in Stockholm, said Säpo, the Swedish Security Service, in a statement.

Swedish Security Service warn of increase in terror threats against Sweden
Swedish Security Service headquarters in Solna. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT

“Recent developments with threats directed at Sweden and Swedish interests is serious and affect Sweden’s security. The security service is seeing an increase in the number of threats of attack in our intelligence flow,” read a statement by Säpo on Wednesday.

It comes two days after the US embassy advised its citizens in Sweden to use caution in busy public venues, gathering sites such as places of worship, and diplomatic facilities, warning of possible terror attacks in retaliation of the recent Koran burning incident.

Far-right extremist Rasmus Paludan last month burned the holy book of Islam 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.

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The relationship between Sweden and Turkey was already frosty after a pro-Kurdish group hanged an effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Säpo said that the reactions after, among other things, the Koran burning, had been “significant” – especially in light of deteriorating global security and incidents such as last year’s disinformation campaign against the Swedish social services.

It said it considered Sweden to be “in greater focus than before for global violent Islamism”, adding that “the situation after recent events is problematic”.

Sweden’s terror threat level remains at three on a five-point scale, where it has been since 2010, with the exception of a period in 2015 when it was briefly raised to four.

“The terror threat level is based on a long-term assessment, which means that if this development continues for some time, the terror threat level may be raised,” said Säpo.

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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.

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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