The killing of two Swedish citizens in an attack ahead of a football match in Brussels has shocked the country, although the government has been warning for months that Swedes were at greater risk since a recent string of public desecrations of the Quran holy book by a handful of anti-Islam activists.
Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday noted that the government in August had raised the terror alert to the second-highest level following threats against Sweden by Islamic extremists.
“Now we know with chilling clarity that there were grounds for those concerns,” he said.
The desecrations, primarily by an Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, have sparked angry reactions in Muslim countries. In June, demonstrators in Iraq stormed the Swedish Embassy and the Iraqi government cut off diplomatic relations with Sweden.
Now Swedish nationals have been urged to remain vigilant after the gunman opened fire and killed two Swedes in Brussels, with a third victim seriously injured.
Mr Kristersson said he had been told by Belgium that the perpetrator “had stayed in Sweden but was not known to the Swedish police”. The European Union’s passport-free zone allowed him to travel to Sweden.
The PM has called on the EU to bolster border controls and internal security, while Swedes abroad have been encouraged to download the UD Resklar app to receive updated safety alerts.
The attack unfolded at 7pm when a man, who named himself in a video as Abdesalem Lassoued, opened fire in the north of the city centre.
Videos shared online showed a man on a scooter, dressed in an orange fluorescent jacket, pull up and start shooting passers-by.
He then chases people into the hallway of an apartment building to gun them down while four gunshots can be heard.
A major manhunt was launched, with the perpetrator eventually tracked down to a cafe in Schaerbeek, after a witness recognised him and contacted the police.
He was shot and later died of his injuries, with the interior minister Annelies Verlinden posting on Twitter/X, that “The perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Brussels has been identified and has died.”
The gunman, who named himself in a video as Abdesalem Lassoued, is believed to be a Tunisian man who was in Belgium illegally after his asylum application was rejected in 2020.
He posted a video online saying he had killed people in the name of God, with the Belgian prosecutor’s office stating their belief he was inspired by Isis.
While they initially said there did not appear to be any links between the attack and the Israel-Gaza war, they later said they could not exclude that possibility.
Belgium prime minister Alexander De Croo called Monday’s shooting “a harrowing act of terrorism” in a press conference, while it is believed the victims were probably targeted because they were Swedish.
The attack occurred three miles away from the stadium where Belgium was playing Sweden to qualify for the Euro 2024 football tournament.
Following news of the attack, the match was abandoned at half time while 35,000 fans had to wait for hours in the King Baudouin stadium before being evacuated in groups.
Sweden’s foreign ministry sent a text message to its citizens in Belgium on Tuesday morning warning them to be vigilant. It later issued a statement urging all Swedes abroad to be careful.
“All indications are that this is a terror attack aimed at Sweden and Swedish citizens only due to them being Swedish,” Mr Kristersson told a news conference.“These terrorists want to scare us into obedience and silence. That will not happen.”
Sweden’s terror alert was raised to its second-highest level in August after a series of public Quran burnings, with the government warning that the country had become a target for jihadis.
After copies of the Quran were burnt outside Stockholm’s Royal Palace, the city’s largest mosque, and the Turkish embassy, state authorities were warned by intelligence services of a heightened risk for a terrorist attack.
Swedish officials have repeatedly condemned the desecrations while saying they are allowed under freedom of speech. The government is investigating whether to give police greater authority to stop such acts on security grounds.“Not everything that is legal is appropriate,” Mr Kristersson said Tuesday. “What you do in Sweden can have consequences elsewhere.”
Protests occurred in Muslim-majority countries across the world, with protestors in Iraq storming the Swedish embassy and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan holding up Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
Sweden’s embassies urged nationals to exercise increased vigilance abroad while Swedes at home voiced concerns about safety in a country lately also contending with a wave of gangland shootings.
“The threat assessment against Sweden has gradually changed and the threat of attacks by above all violent Islamist extremism has increased,” security police SAPO said in a statement following the attack on Monday.
“It is a serious situation and the security police estimates that it will remain for a considerable period.”
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