Sweden: eight injured in suspected "terrorist" attack
Investigators at the scene of the attack, in Vetlanda, March 3, 2021. AP - Mikael Fritzon
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Eight people were wounded on Wednesday March 3 with knives, including two seriously, during an alleged "terrorist" attack in southern Sweden.
Publicity
Read more
The attack took place in the afternoon in Vetlanda, a small town of 12,000 inhabitants in southern Sweden.
It left eight people injured, two of them seriously.
The alleged assailant, a man in his twenties, was shot in the leg by police gunfire during his arrest.
A police spokesperson said he was in possession of a "
sharp weapon
".
After having initially ruled out the terrorist trail, the police finally indicated in the early evening to suspect a "terrorist crime".
“
There are details of the investigation that make us work on possible terrorist motivations.
But I can not specify what it is about
, was satisfied to indicate Malena Grann, chief of the police force of the region of Jönköping, during a press conference.
The suspect, who was hospitalized to treat his injuries, was in no condition to be heard.
Authorities only reported that he lived in the area and was known to the police for minor offenses.
"
These are terrible events and my thoughts are with the victims and their relatives,
" Interior Minister Mikael Damberg said in a statement.
In Sweden, the intelligence services consider the terrorist threat to be high.
The country has been targeted twice by terrorist attacks in recent years.
The latest dates back to 2017, when a failed Uzbek asylum seeker mowed down several pedestrians in Stockholm with a stolen truck, killing five people.
He was sentenced to life in prison in June 2018. In December 2010, a man carried out a suicide bomb attack in central Stockholm, but only slightly injured.
(
With
AFP)
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Sweden