Until the late 2000s terrorism in Sweden was not seen as a serious threat to the security of the state. However, there has been a rise in far right and Islamist terrorist activity in the 21st century.[1]

The Swedish government agency tasked with keeping watch over terrorism-related threats is the Swedish Security Service.


1970s–1990s

The terrorism-related event in modern Swedish history which received the most attention was the West German embassy siege in 1975, which was carried out by the Red Army Faction. In 1976, the same group also planned Operation Leo which was to involve the kidnapping of Anna-Greta Leijon, but which was never set in action.

In 1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was killed in an action of dubious motivations. Several different terrorist leads were considered, but none has been proved conclusive, and the police main lead was a lone madman.

At the end of the 1980s a neo-Nazi movement developed in Sweden. National Youth activist Klas Lund was convicted of bank robbery and of the murder of Ronny Landin in the summer of 1986. National Youth was linked to the Swedish Resistance Movement.[2][3] In 1988, the Nordic National Party formed a new network named VAM (The White Aryan Resistance), in which Lund was also involved; it became well known for a series of burglaries and robberies including one where they broke into a Lidingö police station and stole 36 guns. At the same time far right activist John Ausonius engaged in a shooting spree targeting immigrants. He was not involved in the neo-Nazi movement, but the concurrence of the events garnered press exposure. VAM no longer exists as a movement, but there are numerous organizations rooted in it, including the Swedish Resistance Movement (SMR) led by Klas Lund and the Party of the Swedes (SVP).[4] In 1998, far right activist Hampus Hellekant murdered syndicalist union member Björn Söderberg after Söderberg campaigned against the Nazi activities of Info-14's Robert Vesterlund.[5] Info-14 claimed one police killing in Malexander (the perpetrators, including Jackie Arklöv had links to the National Socialist Front too) and a car bomb in Nacka in 1999, leading the paper's editor, Vesterlund, to be sentenced to eighteen months in prison for incitement to racial hatred, threats against an officer, and aggravated incitement.

Sweden-based Palestinian terrorists Abu Talb and Marten Imandi were convicted of perpetrating a series of bombings and attacks in 1985 and 1986, along with two co-conspirators who received lesser sentences. The attacks included the 1985 Copenhagen bombings of the Great Synagogue and Northwest Orient Airlines, and the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the "Lockerbie bombing."[6][7][8]

21st century

In the 2000s, the issue of terrorism financing and recruiting for terrorist groups, including Islamist groups, have also been on the security agenda. Criminal acts from domestic political extremist groups, both on the right and on the left, have also become an increasing phenomenon.[1]

The Neo-nazi activist group Swedish Resistance Movement (SRM) was formed in 1997 and merged into the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) in 2016. The group has been behind several violent actions since a bomb and the murder of the journalist Björn Söderberg in 1999. In 2017, NRM members were arrested for involvement in two bombings and a bombing attempt in Gothenburg, near two refugee accommodations and a syndicalist organization.[9] Legion Wasa is a neo-Nazi paramilitary[10][11] organisation founded in 1999,[12] whose members have reportedly been preparing for race war,[11] and once made preparations for helping out Saddam Hussein in the Iraq War against the invading United States Army.[10][13] Led by Curt Linusson, a former UN soldier and Home Guard officer, the group has conducted field practice in the forests of Västergötland.[10][11] The organisation is said to have between 25 and 30 members.[12] In 2004 four members of the organisation were arrested, charged with plotting mass murders of political opponents, and of forming a terrorist cell inspired by the novel The Turner Diaries.[11] All four were acquitted for terror charges, although three of the charged were convicted for violence and drug charges, with sentences ranging from one to two years imprisonment.[14] The 2010s saw an upsurge in far right violence in Sweden.[15]

Islamic terrorism

According to the Swedish Defence University, since the 1970s, a number of residents of Sweden have been implicated in providing logistical and financial support to or joining various foreign-based transnational Islamic militant groups. Among these organizations are Hezbollah, Hamas, the GIA, Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, Al-Shabaab, Ansar al-Sunna and Ansar al-Islam.[16]

In the 2000s, Islamists in Sweden were not primarily seeking to commit attacks in Sweden, but were rather using Sweden as a base of operations against other countries and for providing logistical support for groups abroad.[17]

In 2010, the Swedish Security Service estimated that a total of 200 individuals were involved in the Swedish Islamist extremist environment. According to the Swedish Defence University, most of these militants were affiliated with the Islamic State, with around 300 people traveling to Syria and Iraq to join the group and Al-Qaeda associated outfits like Jabhat al-nusra in the 2012–2017 period[16] and some have financed their activities with funds from the Swedish state welfare systems.[18] In 2017, Swedish Security Service director Anders Thornberg stated that the number of violent Islamic extremists residing in Sweden to number was estimated to be "thousands".[19] The Danish Security and Intelligence Service judged the number of jihadists in Sweden to be a threat against Denmark since two terrorists arriving from Sweden had already been sentenced in the 2010 Copenhagen terror plot.[20] Security expert Magnus Ranstorp has argued that efforts to improve anti-terror legislation has been hampered by human rights activists such as Ywonne Ruwaida, Mehmet Kaplan and the organisation Charta 2008. A change in the activism occurred in the 2013–2014 time frame due to the number of Swedish citizens travelling to join the Islamic State. He also stated that some of the loudest activists have withdrawn from public debate after being exposed for harassing women in the metoo campaign.[21]

The issue has also led to problematic relationship between Sweden and Turkey in the context of Swedish decision to join NATO in 2022, a request that has been delayed by Turkey due to Turkish view that Sweden is not doing enough to prevent organizations Turkey sees as terrorist from operating in Sweden (see Swedish anti-terrorism bill (2023)).[22][23][24][25]

List of terrorist incidents and political violence in Sweden

Date Type Deaths Injuries Details Perpetrator
12 July 1908 Bombing 1 23 A bomb was placed on a ship housing strikebreakers during a strike at the docks in Malmö.[26] Anton Nilson
3 March 1940 Arson 5 Several An arson attack against the office of the Communist newspaper Norrskensflamman in Luleå by right-wing extremists.[27] Right-wing extremists
15–16 September 1972 Hijacking 0 0 The Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130 was hijacked by Croatian ultranationalists to force the release of seven members of their group Ustashe imprisoned after the 1971 Yugoslav Consulate and Embassy shootings in Sweden.[26] Croatian National Resistance
24 April 1975 Bombing 4 14 Red Army Faction carried out the West German embassy siege with the goal of forcing the release of other RAF members from prison in West Germany.[26] Red Army Faction
6 September 1997 Bombings 0 0 A right-wing anarchist was arrested after having bombed numerous sporting venues including the Stockholm Olympic Stadium.[28][29] Mats Hinze (suspected)
August and September 1998 Bombing 0 0 Two 400 kilovolt power lines in Jämtland – two of the most important and accounting for a large part of southern Sweden's power supply – were bombed numerous times by a group protesting the government's parliamentary decision to allow free mountain hunting in the country.[30][31][32][33] Action Group Against Free Mountain Hunting
29 June 1999 Bombing 0 2 A car bomb in Nacka injured a freelance journalist and his child.[34] Right-wing extremists (suspected)
11 December 2010 Bombing 0 (+1) 2 The 2010 Stockholm bombings occurred on 11 December 2010 when two bombs exploded in central Stockholm, Sweden, killing the bomber and injuring two people.[35][36][37][38][39] Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt and the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) described the bombings as acts of terrorism.[37][40] Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen, is suspected of carrying out the bombing.[41][42] The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation described the event as the first suicide attack linked to Islamic terrorism in the Nordic countries.[43] Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly (suspected)
11 September 2011 Assassination plot 0 0 In Gothenburg 2011 a terrorist plot was alleged to target art festival and Swedish artist Lars Vilks and thwarted by police. Four people were arrested, three charged, and all three suspects were acquitted.[44] Al-Qaeda (suspected)
22 October 2015 Sword attack, stabbing 4 1 Trollhättan school stabbing: A far-right extremist killed three people at a high school.[45][46] Anton Lundin Pettersson
February 2016 Bombing plot 0 0 In the 2016 Sweden terrorism plot, Aydin Sevigin was convicted of plotting to carry out an ISIS-inspired suicide bombing on Swedish soil using a homemade pressure-cooker bomb.[47] Aydin Sevigin
November 2016 and January 2017 Bombing 0 1 Three people connected to the Neo-Nazi group Nordic Resistance Movement committed three bomb attacks in the Gothenburg area targeting a left-wing café and two refugee centres.[48][49] Nordic Resistance Movement (suspected)
7 April 2017 Truck attack 5 14 In the 2017 Stockholm truck attack, a self described[50] ISIS recruit[51] rammed a truck into a crowd in Stockholm, Sweden, resulting in five deaths. A 39-year-old rejected asylum seeker born in the Soviet Union, currently a citizen of Uzbekistan, was arrested, suspected on probable cause of terrorist crimes through murder. Contrary to popular claims, the attack has not been claimed by ISIS or any other terrorist group.[50] Rakhmat Akilov
9 December 2017 Arson attack 0 0 In the 2017 Gothenburg Synagogue attack radicalized young men threw firebombs at the synagogue in Gothenburg.[52] Palestinian nationalists (suspected)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "SÄPO: Våldsam politisk extremism ("Violent political extremism")" (in Swedish). July 2009. Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "Sidan kunde inte hittas (404) – Säkerhetspolisen". www.sakerhetspolisen.se.
  3. ↑ "Expo: Sv. Motståndsrörelsen/Nationell Ungdom".
  4. ↑ "at". Den-svenske.com. 25 November 2008. Archived from the original on 23 June 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  5. ↑ Altman, Lawrence K. (25 January 2008). "Swedes Ponder Whether Killer Can Be a Doctor". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  6. ↑ "One Year After Flight 103 Blast, Trail Of Evidence Leads To Sweden". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  7. ↑ "Pan Am Bombing Suspect Convicted in Other Attacks". Associated Press. 22 December 1989.
  8. ↑ Wines, Michael (24 December 1989). "Portrait of Pan Am Suspect: Affable Exile, Fiery Avenger". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ Three nazis were sentenced for the bombings in Gothenburg, Expressen 3 February 2017 (In Swedish)
  10. 1 2 3 "Nazisterna vill hjälpa Saddam" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. 18 February 2003.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Han tränar för raskrig" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. 20 November 2004.
  12. 1 2 "Raggaren som blev ökänd nynazist". Expressen (in Swedish). 7 June 2004.
  13. ↑ "Svenskar söker visum till Irak" (in Swedish). Göteborgs-Posten. 28 February 2003. Archived from the original on 14 March 2003. Retrieved 8 September 2007.
  14. ↑ "Friade för terroristbrott". Expo (in Swedish). 1 February 2005.
  15. ↑ More extreme right violence in Sweden and Finland, ScienceNordic 1 May 2014
  16. 1 2 Linus Gustafsson Magnus Ranstorp (2017). Swedish Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq (PDF). Swedish Defence University. pp. 23–34, 13. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  17. ↑ "EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report TE-SAT 2009" (PDF). Europol. 2009. p. 21. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  18. ↑ M. Normark, M. Ranstorp & F. Ahlin (2017). Finansiella aktiviteter kopplade till personer från Sverige och Danmark som anslutit sig till terrorgrupper i Syrien och Irak mellan 2013 – 2016 (PDF). Swedish Defence University / Centrum för asymmetriska hot- och terrorismstudier (CATS). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2017. Nuvarande beteendemönster präglas framförallt av innovativ insamlingsverksamhet och utnyttjande av de statliga bidragssystemen
  19. ↑ "Säpo: Tusindvis af voldelige islamister bor i Sverige". DR (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  20. ↑ "PET: Truslen mod Danmark kan komme fra Sverige". DR (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  21. ↑ "Stark lobby och få dåd i Sverige". Skånska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 28 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  22. ↑ Wintour, Patrick (14 June 2022). "Turkey threatens year's delay to Swedish and Finnish entry to Nato". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  23. ↑ "Erdogan says Turkey not supportive of Finland, Sweden joining NATO". reuters. 13 May 2022.
  24. ↑ SCF (2 February 2023). "Sweden proposes tougher anti-terror laws in response to Turkey's demands". Stockholm Center for Freedom. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  25. ↑ "Analysis | Why Turkey Is Still Blocking Sweden From Joining NATO". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  26. 1 2 3 Nyheter, SVT. "Svenska terrordåd sedan 1908". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  27. ↑ Attentatet mot Norrskensflamman Norrländska Socialdemokraten, 12 September 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  28. ↑ "Swedish police arrest Olympic bomb suspect". The Independent. 23 October 2011.
  29. ↑ "Another Blast in Sweden During Bid for Olympics". 25 August 1997 – via NYTimes.com.
  30. ↑ "Sabotagen mot kraftnät Kontroversiellt lämna originalbrev till polisen | Journalisten". www.journalisten.se.
  31. ↑ "Sabotage mot kraftledning. Kraftstolpar i Jämtland sprängda. Andra gången på kort tid som elnätet skadas – DN.SE". Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  32. ↑ "Aftonbladet nyheter: Bombattentat mot kraftledning". wwwc.aftonbladet.se.
  33. ↑ "DN ledde polisen på spåren | Journalisten". www.journalisten.se.
  34. ↑ "Bomb blast injures journalist and his son". IFEX. 30 June 1999. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  35. ↑ Hanson, Matilda E.; Håkansson, Catarina (11 December 2010). "Man sprängde sig själv i Stockholm". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  36. ↑ Svahn, Clas (11 December 2010). "Man död efter explosioner i centrala Stockholm". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  37. 1 2 Nyberg, Per (12 December 2010). "Explosions in Stockholm believed to be failed terrorist attack". CNN. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  38. ↑ "Stockholm blasts kill one and injure two". BBC. 11 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  39. ↑ Anderson, Christina; Bursh, John F. (11 December 2010). "Stockholm Hit by Blasts After E-Mail Warning". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  40. ↑ Landes, David (12 December 2010). "Stockholm suicide blast a terror attack: police". The Local. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  41. ↑ Gardham, Duncan; Oscarsson, Marcus; Hutchison, Peter (12 December 2010). "Sweden suicide bomber: Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was living in Britain". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  42. ↑ Paige, Jonathan (12 December 2010). "Stockholm suicide bomber: Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly profile". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  43. ↑ "- Regjeringen reagerer med avsky". Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (in Norwegian). 12 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  44. ↑ "Swedish police arrest four on suspicion of plotting terrorist attack". the Guardian. 11 September 2011.
  45. ↑ "Kalla attacken mot Kronans skola i Trollhättan för vad det var – terrorism". www.expressen.se.
  46. ↑ Jansson, Karin (29 April 2017). "Hon överlevde skolattacken – dog i terrordådet" – via www.svt.se.
  47. ↑ "Teaching student jailed over Sweden terror plot". www.thelocal.se. 2 June 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  48. ↑ "Trio locked up over Gothenburg bomb attacks". The Local. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  49. ↑ Radio, Sveriges. "Reduced sentence for neo-Nazis in Gothenburg bombings – Radio Sweden". Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  50. 1 2 "The terrorist who killed 5 people in a Stockholm truck ramming seemed disappointed when he found out ISIS never claimed his attack". nordic.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  51. ↑ "Uzbekistan says told West that Stockholm attack suspect was IS recruit". Reuters. 14 April 2017. Archived from the original on 4 May 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  52. ↑ "Three Arrested After Firebomb Attack on Swedish Synagogue". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
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