Sweden gangs: Army to help police after surge in killings

The army will be officially tasked with assisting the police with gangs next Thursday

The Swedish army is stepping in to support police in tackling a recent surge in gang killings, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has announced.

He said that from next week the army would start providing assistance with analysis and logistics, as well as in handling explosives and forensic work.

Mr Kristersson added that Sweden's laws also needed updating to enable more military involvement.

So far this month, 12 people have been killed in gang violence in the country.

This is the highest number since December 2019, according to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

On Wednesday night alone, two young men were shot dead in Stockholm, and a woman - who police say had no links to gang crime - was killed in blast at home some 80km (50 miles) north of the capital.

The 24-year-old woman, named as Soha Saad by local media, was a newly qualified teacher and thought to be a neighbour of the target of the explosion.

• HARDtalk with Foreign Minister Tobias Billström: Controversy in Sweden

Mr Kristersson made the announcement after crisis talks on Friday with Sweden's army chief Micael Byden, police chief Anders Thornberg and Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer.

He said the government would ask the army to help the police "in cases where the armed forces' specialist skills can help".

"This could be many things: help with explosives and helicopter logistics, analysis skills... IT forensic analysis."

The prime minister added that the country's current legislation had to change to address "grey-zone situations where it's not obvious what kind of threat Sweden is facing".

Soha Saad, 24, was killed in the early hours of Thursday after a blast tore through her home

Swedish media have connected the recent surge in deaths to a conflict involving a gang known as the Foxtrot network, which has been rocked by infighting and split into two rival factions.

On Thursday, Mr Kristersson said Sweden had not seen anything like it before and that "no other country in Europe" was experiencing this kind of situation.

Children and innocent bystanders, he stressed, were increasingly being caught up in such violence.

Last year, more than 60 people died in shootings in Sweden - the highest on record - and this year is set to be the same or worse.

An official government report published in 2021 stated that four in every million inhabitants were dying in shootings each year in Sweden - compared with 1.6 people per million across Europe.

Police have linked the violence to poor integration of immigrants, a widening gap between rich and poor and drug use.

Mr Kristersson's centre-right minority government, which came to power last year with the support of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, has not yet been able to stem the violence.

He has vowed to push ahead with more surveillance, harsher penalties for breaking gun laws, stronger deportation powers and stop and search zones - insisting that "everything is on the table".

Some critics have argued these measures fail to address underlying social issues including child poverty and underfunded community services.