Sweden’s prime minister said Thursday he has summoned the army chief to discuss how the armed forces can help police deal with an unprecedented crime wave that has shocked the country with near-daily shootings and bombings.
Involving the military in the fight against crime would be a highly unusual step for Sweden, underscoring the seriousness of gang violence that has claimed a dozen lives across the country this month, including teenagers and innocent bystanders.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he would meet on Friday with the supreme commander of the armed forces and the national police commissioner to explore “how the armed forces can help the police in their work against criminal gangs.”
It was not immediately clear in what capacity the military would be involved, but previous proposals have focused on soldiers taking over protection duties from police to free up more resources for fighting crime.
“Sweden has never seen anything like this before,” Kristersson said in a televised address to the nation. “No other country in Europe is seeing anything like this.”
Sweden has struggled with gang violence for years, but the rise in shootings and bombings in September has been exceptional. Three people were killed overnight in separate attacks with suspected links to criminal gangs, which often recruit teenagers in socially disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods to carry out attacks.
One of the victims was a woman in her 20s who died in an explosion in Uppsala, north of Stockholm. Swedish media said she was probably not the intended target of the attack.
Dagens Nyheter newspaper said an 18-year-old rapper was killed Wednesday night in a shooting outside a sports complex on the outskirts of Stockholm.
More than 60 people were killed in shootings last year in Sweden, the highest number ever recorded. This year is on track to be the same or worse. Swedish media have linked the latest spike in violence to a dispute between rival factions of a criminal gang known as the Foxtrot network.
Earlier this week, two powerful explosions ripped through homes in central Sweden, injuring at least three people and damaging buildings.
Kristersson’s center-right government took power last year promising to crack down on crime, but has so far failed to stop the violence. The government and the left-wing opposition have been trading accusations over who is to blame for the situation. The opposition says the government has made the country less safe, while Kristersson blames the previous government’s “irresponsible immigration policies and failed integration.”
Sweden has long stood out in Europe along with Germany for having liberal immigration policies and hosting hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa. Sweden has since sharply restricted migration levels, citing rising crime levels and other social problems.
Kristersson said he met with New York Mayor Eric Adams last week to learn about the city’s efforts to combat crime, including surveillance methods and weapons detection systems.
The prime minister said the government is reforming Sweden’s penal code to give police more powers, criminals longer sentences and witnesses better protection.
“Swedish laws are not designed for gang wars and child soldiers,” Kristersson said.
