Rakhmat Akilov had contact with individuals within IS, discussed the attack and received religious guidance before the terrorist attack on Drottninggatan on April 7, 2017. The Nordic resistance movement has links to Russian and German extremist organizations and Swedish autonomous groups are part of the relatively newly formed Autonomous Revolutionary Nordic Alliance.

These are three examples cited in the 115-page report “Boundless Extremism.

A study of transnational connections to Swedish radical environments ”.

 - This is the first study that takes a collective grip on the Swedish extremist environments, says Magnus Ranstorp, terrorism researcher at the Swedish National Defense College and one of the study's four authors, to SVT.

Training camp abroad

In the report, the researchers analyzed 19 cases and based on that identified a number of different types of connections.

Direct communication with representatives of terrorist organizations and training camps abroad are two examples.

- Several of the assassins had tried and succeeded in getting to training camps abroad, says Magnus Ranstorp.

Other connections are affiliation with extremist groups abroad.

“The connections risk having a capacity-enhancing effect on the environments in all respects.

This in the form of everything from increased tactical and practical knowledge, ideological inspiration, and financing ", reads the study.

Violent glorifying narrative

In addition, the connections can contribute to recruitment and radicalization.

- Previous research has, among other things, pointed out that radicalization processes can go quickly in digital forums.

It can be seen that the existence of violent glorifying narratives and hateful content in general can contribute to lowering the threshold for violence and also normalizing violent content, says researcher Linda Ahlerup.

Suggests increased transparency

To reduce the possibilities of extremist environments, the researchers make a number of recommendations.

One is to review the authorities' ability to access the encrypted channels that extremist communities often use.

Another is to strengthen the Swedish authorities' transparency in financial flows.

- Transparency in certain types of organizational forms, such as foundations and associations, is very limited. It is necessary to consider that significant donations from foreign actors should be declared publicly, says Magnus Ranstorp.